GIFT    OF 
JANE 


JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 


JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

GOVERNOR  OF  CONNECTICUT,  1769-1784 

y 

BY  HIS  GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON 

JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 
1919 


Copyright,  1919, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved 
Published,  November,  1919 


THE-PLIMPTON-PE  ESS 
NORWOOD'MASS'U-S'A 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

THIS     life    of   his   great-great-grandfather   was 
completed  by  my  father  before  ill  health  pre 
vented  his  attending  to  its  final  publication,  and  his 
death  in  May  of  this  year  made  it  impossible  to 
consult  him  while  reading  the  proof. 

E.  M.  T. 

September,  1919 


433004 


PREFACE 

SINCE  the  year  1849,  when  Isaac  W.  Stuart 
completed  his  "Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull, 
sen.",  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  retell 
the  story  of  that  busy,  useful  and  significant  life. 
During  the  half  century  and  more  which  has  elapsed 
since  Stuart's  day,  the  history  of  the  men  and  events 
of  the  American  Revolution  has  been  clarified  by 
the  lapse  of  time  and  by  the  labors  of  many  able 
and  scholarly  historians,  so  that  new  views  of  the 
period  have  been  adopted,  leading  to  juster  esti 
mates  of  the  times  in  which  Governor  Trumbull 
served  his  country  and  of  the  men  of  those  times. 
Many  documents  which  Stuart  was  obliged  to  consult 
in  manuscript  are  now  accessible  in  the  form  of  well 
edited  print;  and  some  important  documents  which 
were  unknown  in  his  day  have  since  come  to  light. 
Such  a  family  history,  too,  as  the  recent  genealogy 
of  the  Higley  family  by  Mrs.  Johnston  throws  new 
and  important  light  on  the  family  and  personal 
traits  of  Governor  Trumbull's  mother;  and  the 
Reverend  Edward  Robinson's  sketch  of  the 
descendants  of  William  Robinson  does  equally 
important  service  in  the  case  of  Governor  Trum 
bull's  wife.  The  statements  which  have  recently 
appeared  in  print  regarding  Trumbull's  connection 
with  the  Conway  cabal,  and  regarding  his  feelings 


viii  PREFACE 

towards  Schuyler  require,  of  course,  careful  investi 
gation  and  treatment  for  which  there  was  no  neces 
sity  half  a  century  ago. 

These,  and  many  similar  considerations  con 
stitute  an  apology  for  a  new  life  of  Connecticut's 
revolutionary  governor.  The  apology  would  not 
be  complete,  however,  if  the  writer  should  fail  to 
confess  that  his  undertaking  is  prompted,  to  a 
great  degree,  by  a  spirit  of  reverence  for  the  memory 
of  a  worthy  ancestor.  Just  for  this  reason,  it  has 
been  the  aim  of  the  writer  to  avoid  the  extravagant 
eulogy  which  abounds  in  Stuart's  work;  to  tell 
the  story  simply  and  impartially,  and  to  search 
diligently  for  the  truth  in  this  long  period  of  public 
service.  The  attempt  has  been  made  to  let  the 
life-story  speak  for  the  man,  in  the  full  conviction 
that  in  no  other  way  can  justice  be  done  him.  Rev 
erence  for  his  memory  leads  to  the  belief  that  in 
no  other  way  would  the  man  himself  allow  the 
story  to  be  told  if  the  telling  were  within  his  control. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE v 

CHAPTER  I.     Ancestry  —  Early  Surroundings  —  At  Har 
vard  College i 

CHAPTER  II.  Harvard  Graduate  —  Classmates  and  Col 
lege  Mates  —  Licensed  Clergyman  —  Call  to  Church 
at  Colchester  —  Loss  of  his  Elder  Brother  —  Call 
Declined  —  Beginning  of  Mercantile  Career 15 

CHAPTER  III.     Home  Affairs  —  Delegate  to  the  General 

Assembly  — •  Marriage  —  The  Robinsons 23 

CHAPTER  IV.  Apprenticeship  in  Politics  —  Deputy  — 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  —  Assistant 
—  New  and  Stirring  Times  —  Lieutenant-Colonel  — 
Judge  —  Man  of  Business 32 

CHAPTER  V.  Public  Duties  —  Ecclesiastical  and  Minor 
Matters  —  Financial  and  Judicial  Affairs  —  Capture 
of  Louisburg  —  Massachusetts  Boundary  —  Impor 
tant  Conferences 42 

CHAPTER  VI.  The  Case  of  the  Spanish  Treasure  Ship  — 
Declines  Appointment  as  Agent  to  London  —  Family 
and  Home  Affairs 55 

CHAPTER  VII.  Mercantile  Affairs  —  Son  Joseph  in  Lon 
don  —  Difficulties  there  —  New  Firm  —  Continued 

Difficulties  —  Mercantile  Failure 64 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  VIII.  The  Stamp  Act  —  Letters  of  Joseph 
Trumbull  from  London  —  Connecticut's  Opposition 
to  .the  Act  —  Ingersoll  Compelled  to  Resign  —  Stamp 
Act  Congress  —  Governor  Fitch  takes  the  Oath  — 
Trumbull  and  Others  Refuse  to  Witness  the  Cere 
mony  —  Trumbull  Elected  Deputy  Governor  — 
Pitkin  Succeeds  Fitch  as  Governor 73 

CHAPTER  IX.  Trumbull  Elected  Governor  —  The  Poli 
tical  Parties  in  Connecticut  —  His  Course  Regard 
ing  Writs  of  Assistance  —  The  Contest  for  Governor 
ship  —  Campaign  Literature 81 

CHAPTER  X.  Death  of  Trumbull's  Mother  —  The 
Mohegan  Case  —  Susquehanna  Case  —  Embassy  of 
William  Samuel  Johnson  —  His  Correspondence  with 
the  Governors  of  Connecticut  —  Johnson's  Action  in 
the  Susquehanna  Case  in  London  —  Trumbull's 
Share  in  this  Case 91 

CHAPTER  XI.  Connecticut  as  Viewed  in  London  — 
Johnson's  Call  on  Lord  Hillsborough  —  Petition 
Against  Revenue  Acts  —  Bishops  in  America  —  The 
Five  Per  Cent.  Duty  and  the  New  London  Affair  — 
The  Duty  Repealed  —  Trumbull's  Views  on  British 
Policy  and  Colonial  Independence 104 

CHAPTER  XII.  War-clouds  —  Committee  of  Correspon 
dence  —  Excitement  Increases  —  Town  Meetings  — 
Treatment  of  Tories  —  Francis  Green  —  Abijah 
Willard  —  Captain  Davis  —  Doctor  Beebe  —  Re 
verend  Samuel  Peters  —  The  Continental  Congress  116 

CHAPTER  XIII.  1775  —  Trumbull  at  the  Age  of  Sixty- 
five  —  Preparations  for  War  —  Extra  Session  of  the 
General  Assembly  —  Royal  Measures  to  Prevent  a 
Second  Session  of  the  Continental  Congress  — 
Trumbull's  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth 133 


CONTENTS  xi 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XIV.  The  Lexington  Alarm  —  Embassy  to 
General  Gage  —  Treatment  of  the  Ambassadors  by 
Massachusetts  —  Differences  Settled  —  Preparations 
for  War H2 

CHAPTER  XV.  Ticonderoga  —  The  Council  of  Safety  — 
Powder  for  Bunker  Hill  —  Correspondence  with 
Washington  —  The  First  and  Only  Misunderstand 
ing  Between  Washington  and  Trumbull  —  Sears's 
Raid  — The  Connecticut  " Deserters"  153 

CHAPTER  XVI.  The  Children  of  the  Family  —  Joseph, 
the  Commissary  General  —  His  Early  Death  — 
Jonathan  and  His  Distinguished  Services  —  David, 
the  Home  Worker  —  John,  the  Soldier  and  Artist  — 
Faith  and  Her  Sad  Death  —  Mary  and  Her  Patriotic 
Husband 170 

CHAPTER  XVII.  Renewed  Calls  for  Troops  —  The  New 
York  Expedition  —  Washington's  Acknowledgments 

—  More  Troops  —  The  Governor's  Proclamation  — 
Independence  —  Governor    Franklin    a     Prisoner  — 
Row-galleys  Sent  to  New  York 179 

CHAPTER  XVIII.    Dark  Days  —  Urgent  Calls  for  Troops 

—  Trumbull's     Active     Measures  —  Militia      Regi 
ments  Despatched  to  New  York  —  Demands  of  the 
Northern  Army  —  Trumbull's  Relations  to  Schuyler 

—  Supplies  and   Men   Hurried  Forward  —  Sectional 
Jealousies 194 

CHAPTER  XIX.    "The  Times  that  Tried  Men's  Souls"  - 
Difficulties  in  Filling  Connecticut's  Quota  —  Tryon's 
Raid    on    Danbury  —  Trumbull    and    the     Conway 
Cabal --The    Title     "His  Excellency"    Distasteful 
to  the  Governor 207 

CHAPTER  XX.  Trumbull's  Illness  and  Message  to  the 
General  Assembly  —  Taxation  —  Regulating  Acts  — 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Confederation  —  Relief  for  Valley   Forge  —  Corres 
pondence  with  Tryon  —  The  Errand  of  the  "Spy" 
Death  of  Joseph  Trumbull 222 

CHAPTER  XXI.  The  Wyoming  Massacre  —  Battle  of 
Rhode  Island  —  Failure  —  The  Governor's  Com 
ments  —  His  Son  a  Volunteer  —  General  Gates  En 
tertained  at  Hartford  — Naval  Successes  —  Bush- 
nelPs  Torpedo  —  Finances  —  Confederation  Urged 
by  Trumbull 235 

CHAPTER  XXII.  Scarcity  of  Provisions  —  Governor 
Tryon  Again  Threatens  an  Invasion  —  He  Attacks 
New  Haven,  and  Burns  Fairfield  and  Norwalk  — 
Arrest  of  William  Samuel  Johnson  —  His  Release  — 
Financial  Affairs  —  Trumbull's  Correspondence  with 
Van  der  Capellan  —  His  Plans  for  a  History  of  the 
Revolution 247 

CHAPTER  XXIII.    Distressing  Conditions  of  the  Country 
—  Financial  Affairs  and  Measures  —  Calls  on  Con 
necticut  —  Death   of  the  Governor's  Wife  —  French 
Hussars   Quartered    at    Lebanon    and    Colchester  — 
Governor  Appointed  to  Supervise   State   Finances.  .      259 

CHAPTER  XXIV.  Continued  Gloom  —  Imprisonment  of 
Colonel  John  Trumbull  —  His  Release  and  Return  — 
Continued  Calls  for  Provisions  for  the  Army  —  The 
Wethersfield  Conference  —  The  Governor  and 
Council  go  to  Danbury  —  -The  Yorktown  Campaign 
—  The  Groton  Massacre  —  The  Surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis 272 

CHAPTER  XXV.  Need  of  Continued  War-footing 
—  Deane's  Views  —  Measures  for  Defense  —  Plots 
Against  the  Governor  —  His  Vindication  —  Final 
Decision  of  the  Susquehanna  Case  —  Subsequent 
Events  in  Wyoming 285 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XXVI.  Peace  Negotiations — A  Critical  Period 
for  America  —  Anti- federalism  in  Connecticut  — 
TrumbulPs  Federalism  —  The  Society  of  the  Cincin 
nati  —  Trumbull's  Reply  to  Washington's  Address  ^- 
The  Farewell  Address  of  the  Governor,  and  Its  Recep 
tion  by  the  General  Assembly 298 

CHAPTER  XXVII.  Governor  Griswold  Elected  —  Trum- 
bull  in  Private  Life  —  Settlement  for  Eight  Years' 
Services  —  His  Own  Retrospect  —  His  Pursuits  in 
Private  Life  — •  Honors  Bestowed  upon  Him  — 
"Brother  Jonathan" 317 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.  Continued  Good  Health  —  Sudden 
Illness  —  Death  —  His  Pastor's  Estimate  of  His 
Personal  Character  —  Washington's  Tribute  —  The 
Trumbull  Tomb  and  Epitaph 333 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 341 

INDEX 347 


JONATHAN    TRUMBULL 


CHAPTER  I 

ANCESTRY EARLY    SURROUNDINGS AT 

HARVARD    COLLEGE 

THE  surnames  Turnbull  and  Trumbull  can 
only  be  presumptively  traced  to  a  Scotch 
peasant  who  appears  on  the  official  record 
in  the  year  1315  as  "Willielmo  dicto  Turnebull", 
to  whom  King  Robert  the  Bruce  grants  "a  reddendo 
of  one  broad  arrow  at  the  feast  of  the  Assumption 
of  the  Virgin  Mary."  This  appears  to  have  been 
a  grant  of  land  in  Philiphaugh,  a  short  distance 
west  of  Rule  Water,  as  a  reward  for  saving  the 
king  from  the  attack  of  an  infuriated  bull  in 
the  forest  of  Callender,  near  Sterling.  Together 
with  this  estate,  a  coat  of  arms  was  granted  this 
peasant,  with  the  device  of  three  bulls'  heads  and 
a  motto  which  in  the  hands  of  various  branches 
of  the  family  reads  either  Audaces  fortuna  juavt, 
Audaci  favet  fortuna,  or  Fortuna  favet  audaci. 

It  is  interesting  to  read  the  story  as  Doctor  John 
Leyden  tells  it  with  a  poet's  license,  in  his  "Scenes 
of  Infancy"  after  nearly  five  centuries  had  thrown 
their  glamour  over  it: 


2  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

"Between  red  ezlarbanks,  that  frightful  scowl, 

Fringed  with  grey  hazel,  roars  the  mining  Roull; 

Where  Turnbulls  once,  a  race  no  power  could  awe, 

Lined  the  rough  skirts  of  stormy  Rubieslau. 

Bold  was  the  chief  from  whom  their  line  they  drew, 

Whose  nervous  arm  the  furious  bison  slew, 

The  bison,  fiercest  race  of  Scotia's  breed, 

Whose  bounding  course  outstripped  the  red  deer's  speed. 

By  hunters  chafed,  encircled  on  the  plain, 

He  frowning  shook  his  yellow  lion  mane, 

Spurned  with  black  hoof  in  bursting  rage  the  ground, 

And  fiercely  toss'd  his  moony  horns  around. 

On  Scotia's  lord  he  rush'd  with  lightning  speed, 

Bent  his  strong  neck  to  toss  the  startled  steed; 

His  arms  robust  the  hardy  hunter  flung 

Around  his  bending  horns,  and  upward  wrung, 

With  writhing  force  his  neck  retorted  round, 

And  roll'd  the  panting  monster  on  the  ground, 

Crushed  with  enormous  strength  his  bony  skull; 

And  courtiers  hailed  the  man  who  turned  the  bull." 

Thus  the  peasant  becomes  enrolled  among  the 
heroes  of  a  nondescript  mythology,  of  so  recent  a 
date  that  he  has  also  been  made  the  butt  of  ridicule. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  from  him  the  once 
powerful  Scottish  clan  of  Turnbull  took  its  origin, 
becoming  famed  for  legitimate  warfare,  and  later 
for  border  reiving  and  ruffianry  in  the  days  when 
the  cry  was  steal  or  starve,  with  a  strong  preference 
for  the  former,  in  which  the  Turnbulls  kept  such 
good  company  as  the  Murrays,  Jardines,  Bells, 
Lindsays  and  others.  As  the  clan  grew  more  law 
less  it  was  found  necessary  to  send  armed  forces  to 
subdue  it,  by  which  summary  process  the  Turnbulls, 
weakened  by  the  attacks  of  rival  clans,  were  finally 


ANCESTRT  3 

dispersed  and  broken  up,  their  extinction  as  a 
clan  probably  dating  from  1545,  when  twelve  of 
their  castles  and  two  of  their  towns  were  destroyed 
by  the  English.  Some  of  the  survivors  were  scat 
tered  through  England,  and  some  remained  on 
their  native  heath  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  or  longer. 

It  is  hardly  probable  that  a  distinct  pedigree  of 
Jonathan  Trumbull  will  ever  be  traced  showing  his 
descent  through  all  the  generations  from  "the  man 
who  turned  the  bull"  in  or  about  the  year  1315. 
It  can  only  be  said,  in  the  absence  of  all  other  clues 
to  his  origin,  that  the  theory  of  his  descent  from  the 
originator  of  the  clan  Turnbull  is  plausible.  The 
corrupted  spelling  of  the  name  is  accounted  for 
by  the  late  Doctor  J.  Hammond  Trumbull  with 
the  surmise  that  the  Scotch  pronunciation  gave 
such  prominence  to  the  letter  r  that  it  first  caught 
the  ear  of  the  scrivener,  who  in  pursuance  of  the 
usual  phonetic  spelling  of  the  surnames  of  the  day 
wrote  Trumbull  for  Turnbull,  and  even  went  further 
by  spelling  the  last  syllable  b-l-e,  as  it  is  usually 
found  in  the  English  and  American  records  of  the 
sixteenth,  seventeenth  and  first  half  of  the  eigh 
teenth  centuries.  Scotchmen  tell  us  that  the  name 
is  spelled  Turnbull  and  pronounced  Trumbull  to 
this  day. 

To  add  to  the  plausibility  of  our  theory,  we  shall 
find  as  his  career  develops  that  Governor  Trum 
bull  was  possessed  of  traits  of  character  which  are 
distinctively  Scotch.  His  tenacity  of  purpose,  his 
indomitable  perseverance,  his  keen  sense  of  duty, 


4  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

and  the  deeply  devotional  and  religious  spirit  which 
animated  and  informed  his  whole  career  are  so 
conspicuous  and  so  Scottish  that  they  seem  to  mark 
the  man  and  his  race.  In  his  diplomacy,  too,  there 
is  much  that  the  Scotch  would  call  "canny,"  though 
there  is  in  his  self-forgetfulness  and  in  the  breadth 
of  his  views  much  that  emancipates  him  from  the 
narrow  significance  of  this  term  which  it  is  so  diffi 
cult  to  acclimate  in  our  own  country.  These  lead 
ing  traits,  so  plainly  marked  in  his  life,  were,  of 
course,  modified  and  adapted  to  conditions  quite 
different  from  those  in  which  they  first  took  root 
in  their  native  soil.  Then,  too,  there  were,  no 
doubt,  hereditary  traits  from  the  maternal  side 
which  modified  the  more  stolid,  hard-headed  racial 
characteristics  in  a  way  to  fit  him  for  a  career  which 
called  for  alertness  and  promptness  of  action,  in 
which  he  was  never  found  lacking. 

Passing  over  the  long  hiatus  in  his  pedigree  from 
"Willielmo  dicto  Turnebull",  we  come  to  the  year 
1635,  at  which  time  it  is  established  by  the  re 
searches  of  Mr.  J.  Henry  Lea  that  one  John  Trumble, 
a  cooper  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  married  Ellinor 
Chandler,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1639  with 
his  wife  and  only  surviving  child  John,  an  infant 
in  arms.  Cooper  though  he  was,  the  first  American 
Trumbull  was  town  clerk  and  schoolmaster  at 
Rowley,  Massachusetts,  where  he  settled  upon  his 
arrival.  'The  hurrying  pen  of  the  stripling", 
John  Alden  the  pilgrim,  also  a  cooper,  showed  a 
no  more  clerkly  hand  than  did  the  pen  of  the  cooper 
John  Trumbull.  By  a  singular  chance  it  happened 


ANCESTRY  5 

some  generations  later  that  the  Alden  and  Trum- 
bull  blood  mingled  in  the  marriage  of  Governor 
Jonathan  Trumbull  and  Faith  Robinson. 

With  a  father  who,  besides  being  a  cooper,  was 
a  schoolmaster  and  town  clerk,  we  may  infer  that 
the  educational  advantages  of  the  son  John  were 
unusual  for  the  time.  In  due  course  of  events,  he 
married  Deborah  Jackson,  and  removed  to  Suffield, 
Connecticut,  where  four  sons,  named  John,  Joseph, 
Ammi  and  Benoni,  were  born  to  him.  John  was 
the  grandfather  of  the  lawyer-poet  John  Trum 
bull,  now  chiefly  remembered  as  the  author  of 
"McFingal";  Joseph  was  the  father  of  Governor 
Jonathan  Trumbull,  whose  life  forms  the  subject 
of  this  biography;  and  Benoni  was  the  grandfather 
of  the  Reverend  Benjamin  Trumbull,  whose  colonial 
history  of  Connecticut  in  two  large  volumes  is 
still  the  standard  for  that  period. 

Joseph,  in  whom  as  the  father  of  Jonathan  Trum 
bull  our  interest  centers,  was  born  in  1678  at  Suffield, 
where  he  passed  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  his 
life.  Like  the  young  men  of  his  day  he  learned 
farming,  and  developed  a  tendency  to  trade  which 
stood  him  in  good  stead  later  in  life.  In  1703  he 
removed  to  Simsbury,  attracted  thither,  no  doubt, 
by  Mistress  Hannah  Higley,  whom  he  married  on 
August  31,  1704.  Her  lineage,  passing  as  it  does 
into  that  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  deserves  at  least 
passing  notice. 

She  was  the  daughter  of  John  and  Hannah 
(Drake)  Higley,  and  was  born  at  Simsbury  on 
April  22,  1684.  Her  grandparents  were  Jonathan 


6  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

and  Katherine  (Brewster)  Higley,  the  grandmother 
being  "clearly  of  the  ancient  Brewster  family  of 
England  to  which  belonged  'Elder'  William  Brew 
ster  of  the  Mayflower  fame."1  The  story  of  the 
early  days  of  Hannah  Higley's  father  reads  like  a 
romance.  Apprenticed  to  a  glover  in  London  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  he  was  given  by  his  hard  task 
master  two  days'  notice  of  a  whipping  in  store  for 
him.  Determined  to  free  himself  from  such  thral 
dom,  he  secretly  departed  before  the  whipping 
fell  due,  and  stowed  himself  away  on  board  a  vessel 
bound  to  America,  at  the  risk  of  severe  and  cruel 
punishment  under  the  laws  then  applying  to  appren 
ticeships.  Upon  discovering  himself  to  the  captain 
of  the  vessel,  he  arranged,  for  his  passage,  to  sell 
his  services  during  his  minority  to  any  American 
settler  who  would  pay  a  price  satisfactory  to  the 
captain.  Fortunately,  the  vessel  was  bound  to 
Windsor,  Connecticut,  where  she  arrived  some 
time  in  the  year  1664,  and  young  John  Higley 
was  then  and  there  bound  to  the  service  of  John 
Drake  for  a  sum  satisfactory  to  the  captain.  Seven 
years  later  he  married  the  granddaughter  of  his 
former  master,  and  became  a  man  of  note  in  Sims- 
bury,  becoming  a  justice,  a  judge  of  the  county 
court,  a  deputy  to  the  General  Assemby  for  many 
years,  and  captain  of  the  Simsbury  trainband. 
Hannah  Drake,  whom  he  married,  was  of  the  ancient 
and  honorable  Drake  family  of  England  which 
includes  the  sea-king,  Sir  Francis  Drake.  Her  Amer 
ican  ancestry  dates  back  to  Dorchester,  Massa- 

1  "The  Higleys  and  Their  Ancestry",  by  Mary  Coffin  Johnson. 


ANCESTRY  7 

chusetts,  in  1630,  and  her  English  ancestry  to  the 
Norman  conquest,  or  earlier.  Her  mother  was 
Hannah  Moore,  a  daughter  of  Deacon  John  Moore, 
a  man  of  note  in  Dorchester,  who  came  to  Windsor 
with  the  Reverend  John  Warham,  probably  with 
the  ill-fated  expedition  of  1635. 1 

Thus  the  children  of  Joseph  Trumbull,  through 
the  Drakes  and  Moores,  had  by  inheritance  an 
earlier  claim  on  New  England  and  Connecticut  soil 
than  he  himself  had,  and  through  the  sterling  blood 
of  the  Higleys,  Brewsters,  Drakes  and  Moores 
took  on  hereditary  qualities  which  mingled  well 
with  those  of  the  Trumbulls. 

The  enterprising  young  couple  did  not  remain 
long  in  Simsbury;  for  within  a  year  from  the  time 
of  their  marriage,  we  find  them  at  Lebanon,  a  town 
which  had  been  recognized  by  the  General  As 
sembly  just  five  years  before,  and  which  in  the 
same  year  of  their  arrival,  1705,  had  for  the  first 
time  reached  the  dignity  of  taxation  and  represen 
tation  in  the  General  Assembly.  If  Joseph  Trum 
bull  cannot  strictly  be  called  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Lebanon,  he  comes  so  near  that  distinction  that 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  shared  in  the  inconven 
iences,  hardships  and  privations  of  the  first  settlers, 
and  doubtless  found  work  enough  for  his  stalwart 
young  arms  in  clearing  the  land  of  his  first  grant 
for  cultivation.  He  made  no  mistake,  however, 
in  casting  his  lot  with  this  new  little  community, 
for  the  soil  proved  rich  and  productive,  and  the 
location  among  the  peaceful  hills  and  valleys  was 
charming  and  attractive. 

1"The  Higleys  and  Their  Ancestry",  by  Mary  Coffin  Johnson. 


8  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Here,  in  this  same  year,  was  born  his  eldest  son 
Joseph,  destined  to  a  short  career  with  a  sad  end 
ing;  for  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  on  a  foreign 
voyage  in  the  interest  of  his  father's  growing  busi 
ness,  he  was  lost  at  sea,  leaving  a  widow  with  two 
daughters.  Doubtless  he  had  become,  at  this  time, 
his  father's  right-hand  man,  and  doubtless,  too, 
much  of  the  father's  success  and  prosperity  were 
due  to  this  son. 

But  the  father's  energy  and  confidence  in  his 
location  and  in  his  power  to  win  his  way  laid  the 
sure  foundation  of  this  success  and  prosperity. 
Some  three  years  after  settling  in  Lebanon  he 
bought  the  homestead  of  the  Reverend  Joseph 
Parsons,  the  first  minister  of  the  town,  mortgaging 
it  —  as  an  indication  of  small  means  and  large 
faith  for  the  time  —  for  £340.  Here,  no  doubt, 
in  the  first  Lebanon  parsonage,  Jonathan  Trum- 
bull,  with  whose  career  we  are  chiefly  concerned, 
was  born,  on  October  12,  1710.  He  appeared  on 
the  stage  at  the  beginning  of  a  peaceful  and  pros 
perous  time  for  the  little  colony  of  Connecticut 
and  for  the  new  and  fast  growing  town  of  his  birth. 
England,  with  Queen  Anne  on  the  throne,  had  so 
busied  and  satiated  and  sickened  herself  with  war 
and  conquest  in  the  brilliant  campaigns  of  Marl- 
borough  that  the  American  colonies  appear  to  have 
been  forgotten  for  the  time;  at  least,  no  such  inter 
ference  as  had  been  the  rule  during  the  last  half 
of  the  previous  century  occurred.  For  fifty  years 
this  little  colony  had  been  engaged  in  a  struggle 
to  establish  her  rights  under  the  charter  of  1662; 


BIRTH--  EARLY  SURROUNDINGS         9 

and  those  rights,  with  some  wrongs,  were  at  last 
established  by  the  absorption  of  New  Haven,  the 
downfall  of  Andros,  the  discomfiture  of  Fletcher, 
and  something  like  a  final  decision  regarding  Con 
necticut's  boundaries,  if  we  leave  the  South  Sea 
out  of  the  question.  With  the  absorbing' interest 
in  home  affairs  diverting  the  Mother  Country  from 
active  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the  American 
colonies  at  this  time,  the  little  communities  of 
trading  farmers  composing  the  towns  of  Connecti 
cut  were  left  free,  for  the  time  being,  to  direct 
their  own  affairs  in  frequent  town  meetings,  pro 
prietors'  meetings  and  patentees'  meetings,  with 
representation  in,  and  appeal  to,  the  General  Court 
or  Assembly  when  needed. 

One  of  the  most  active  of  these  little  communi 
ties  was  Trumbull's  native  town  and  lifelong  home. 
As  a  boy,  in  the  intervals  of  study,  hoeing  and 
feeding  chickens  and  cattle,  he  heard,  no  doubt, 
much  talk  of  boundary  disputes,  of  church  matters, 
of  prices  of  farm  produce  and  live  stock,  of  the 
news,  some  months  old,  from  England;  and  tried 
in  a  boy's  way  to  understand  it  all.  Here  in 
Lebanon,  too,  the  meetinghouse  war  was  brewing; 
and  here,  too,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  the  Mohegan 
case  was  brewing,  to  cause  him  infinite  labor  and 
solicitude  in  the  days  of  his  governorship  some 
sixty  years  later. 

Of  schools,  either  public  or  private,  we  find  no 
trace  in  Lebanon  in  the  days  of  Trumbull's  boy 
hood.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  traditions  of  three 
generations  on  his  father's  side,  and  four  generations 


io  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

on  his  mother's  side,  made  them  both  deeply  con 
scious  of  the  importance  of  a  good  education  for 
their  son.  And  a  good  education  they  certainly 
gave  him  —  as  good  as  American  facilities  of  the 
time  afforded.  After  a  course  of  such  elementary 
studies  as  his  parents  could  bestow,  there  is  little 
or  no  doubt  that  he  was  grounded  in  sufficient 
Latin  and  Greek  to  fit  him  for  college  by  the  Rever 
end  Samuel  Welles.  Welles  was  then  pastor  of  the 
village,  and  his  house,  fine  for  the  times,  with  its 
quaint  frescoes  and  handmade  woodwork,  still 
stands  on  Lebanon  Green. 

If  there  were  any  exceptions  to  the  rule  of  social 
equality  which  existed  in  the  town  at  this  time, 
one  exception  might  be  found  in  the  case  of  this 
same  Reverend  Samuel  Welles,  whose  aristocratic 
Boston  connections  had  enabled  him  to  build  the 
handsomest  house  in  Lebanon.  After  his  tutorship 
to  the  boy  Trumbull,  he  removed  to  Boston,  where 
he  occasionally  met  his  former  townsman,  Joseph 
Trumbull,  the  father  of  his  pupil,  whose  business 
as  farmer  and  drover  sometimes  called  him  to  that 
city.  His  recognition  of  the  elder  Trumbull  was 
sometimes  cold  and  sometimes  altogether  lacking, 
as,  in  his  farmer's  garb,  the  latter  seemed  an  unfit 
acquaintance  to  introduce  among  the  pastor's  city 
friends.  Pastor  Welles  made  occasional  visits  to 
Lebanon,  where  he  still  retained  some  landed  in 
terests,  and  on  one  of  these  visits  he  met  the  elder 
Trumbull  and  cordially  extended  his  hand  to  him. 
Retaliation  then  and  there  ensued,  for  Trumbull, 
refusing  the  proffered  hand,  said  simply,  "No, 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  n 

sir;  if  you  don't  know  me  in  Boston,  I  don't  know 
you  in  Lebanon/'  1 

This  story,  said  to  be  authentic,  illustrates,  too, 
the  independence  and  social  equality  which  existed 
in  Lebanon  in  the  days  of  Jonathan  Tnjmbull's 
boyhood.  The  inhabitants  were  at  this  time  prac 
tically  all  freeholders  and  all  farmers;  they  had 
possessed  the  land  on  equal  terms,  and  each  man 
felt  himself  as  good  as  his  neighbor;  every  in 
habitant  was  well  -  -  perhaps  sometimes  too  well  — • 
acquainted  with  every  other  inhabitant,  and  social 
distinctions  were  practically  unknown.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  the  formative  period  of  Trum- 
bull's  life  was  passed  in  the  influence  of  such  a 
community.  Beyond  the  inspiring  sight  of  the 
frequent  evolutions  of  the  trainband  on  Lebanon 
Green,  the  boy  had  little  diversion  in  the  midst  of 
the  practical,  puritanical,  and  quietly  strenuous 
life  of  the  day. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen,  he  entered  Harvard  Col 
lege,  where  his  enrollment,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  time,  placed  him  twenty-eighth  in  social 
rank  among  the  thirty-seven  graduates  of  his  class.2 
This  order  was  established  during  the  Freshman 
year,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  was  during 
this  year  that  he  got  a  taste,  at  least,  of  the  social 
distinction  which  was  so  foreign  to  his  native  soil. 
This  custom  of  enrolling,  and  probably  of  granting 
privileges  to  the  students,  according  to  rank,  pre 
vailed  at  Harvard  for  the  first  century  and  a  quarter 

1  Hines,  "Early  Lebanon",  p.  21. 

2  Quinquennial  Catalogue  of  Harvard  University,  1900;   p.  83,  footnote. 


12  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

of  its  existence,  as  it  prevailed  at  Yale  for  sixty- 
five  years,  but  at  last  caused  so  much  complaint,  as 
the  democratic  sentiment  of  the  country  grew, 
that  it  gave  place  in  1772  to  enrollment  in  alpha 
betical  order.  A  system,  also,  quite  similar  to  the 
fagging  system  of  the  higher  English  schools,  had 
not  altogether  died  out  when  Trumbull  entered 
Harvard  as  a  Freshman.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  spirit  of  this  lad  of  thirteen,  reared  in  the 
free  air  of  Lebanon's  social  equality,  rebelled  against 
this  fagging  system  and  against  the  social  distinc 
tions  which  the  plan  of  enrollment  created.  Flog 
ging  was  still  publicly  administered  to  students,1 
and  was  perhaps  still  preceded  and  followed  by 
prayer  from  the  president  of  the  college  in  Trum 
bull's  day,  as  in  earlier  ones.  These  austerities 
and  the  formalities  which  ruled  at  the  time  may 
have  given  to  the  young  lad  a  touch  of  homesick 
ness,  bred  of  disgust.  We  have  it  on  the  authority 
of  his  son  John,  however,  that  he  diligently  pursued 
the  studies  of  his  course,  and  acquired  "a  sound 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrew,  as  well  as  the  Greek  and 
Latin  languages,  and  of  all  the  other  studies  of 
the  day",  and  became,  "a  distinguished  scholar." 

From  the  diaries  of  President  Leverett  and  of 
President  Wadsworth,  who  succeeded  him  during 
Trumbull's  course  at  Harvard,  we  get  some  idea 
of  the  studies  pursued  at  the  time.  At  morning 
prayers,  each  student  of  the  three  upper  classes 

1  Quincey's  "History  of  Harvard  University",  vol.  i,  p.  190. 

2  Colonel  John  Trumbull's   "Autobiography,   Reminiscences   and    Letters", 
1841;  p.  2. 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  13 

was  called  upon  to  read  a  verse  out  of  the  Old 
Testament  from  the  Hebrew  into  the  Greek,  the 
Freshmen  reading  from  English  into  Greek.  Presi 
dent  Wadsworth  states  in  his  diary  that  he  ex 
pounded  the  Scriptures  to  the  students,  once  eleven, 
and  sometimes  eight  or  nine  times  in  a  week.  In 
the  regular  curriculum,  Tully,  Virgil  and  the  Greek 
Testament  occupied  four  full  days  of  each  week  in 
the  Freshman  year;  rhetoric  one  morning,  and  the 
Greek  catechism  another  morning,  with  disputa 
tions  on  Ramus's  Definitions  for  two  mornings 
toward  the  end  of  the  year. 

The  Sophomores  "recited"  Logic,  continued  to 
"recite"  the  classical  authors,  Heereboord's  Mele- 
temata,  and  Wollebius's  Divinity,  with  morning 
disputations  on  Mondays  and  Tuesdays. 

The  Juniors  continued  Heereboord's  Meletemata, 
Wollebius's  Divinity,  and  the  two  morning  dis 
putations,  adding  Physics,  Ethics,  Geography  and 
Metaphysics. 

The  Seniors  "recited"  Arithmetic,  Geometry  and 
Astronomy,  "go  over  the  Arts  towards  the  latter 
end  of  the  year,  Ames's  Medulla  on  Saturdays, 
and  dispute  once  a  week/' 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  a  course  at  Harvard 
beginning  in  1723  was  a  much  nearer  approach  to 
a  course  in  divinity  than  our  present  academical 
courses  afford.  It  should  be  added  that  the  Har 
vard  studies  at  this  time  comprised  a  special  course 
in  Hebrew  conducted  by  Judah  Mones,  a  converted 
Jew,  whose  lectures  and  exercises  were  attended 
by  those  upper  classes  on  four  days  in  the  week. 


i4  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

The  atmosphere  was  distinctly  religious,  and 
early  in  his  college  course  we  find  Trumbull  giving 
indications  of  that  deeply  religious  and  devotional 
spirit  which  pervaded  and  informed  his  entire 
public  and  private  life.  In  his  Freshman  year  he 
became  a  member  of  a  secret  religious  organiza 
tion,  whose  simple  Articles  of  Association  may 
still  be  read,  breathing  a  spirit  of  deep  devotion 
and  Christian  charity. 


CHAPTER  II 

HARVARD      GRADUATE  —  CLASSMATES     AND      COLLEGE 

MATES  LICENSED    CLERGYMAN  CALL    TO    CHURCH 

AT    COLCHESTER LOSS    OF    HIS     ELDER    BROTHER 

CALL         DECLINED  —  BEGINNING         OF        MERCANTILE 

CAREER 

IN  1727,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  young 
Trumbull  returned  to  Lebanon,  a  full-fledged 
Harvard  graduate,  with  the  then  customary 
degree  of  A.M.  In  the  still  small,  growing  commu 
nity  of  his  native  town,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  was, 
at  the  time,  regarded  as  a  wonder  of  learning;  for 
Lebanon  was  then  sending  few,  if  any,  of  her  young 
men  to  college;  and  a  man  of  collegiate  education 
had  a  marked  distinction  in  such  a  town.  He  had 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
as  we  have  seen,  with  finishing  touches  of  divinity, 
geography,  arithmetic,  geometry  and  astronomy; 
and  he  had  gained  experiences  and  formed  associa 
tions  which  were,  perhaps,  even  more  important 
than  all  these  studies. 

Notable  among  his  classmates  stands  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  destined  for  a  career  quite  similar  to 
TrumbulPs  in  official  positions,  but  diametrically 
opposite  in  political  principles,  and  ending  in  the 
pathetic  story  of  a  ruined  fortune  and  a  life  of 
exile.  How  far  Hutchinson's  rank  of  third  in  social 
standing  by  Harvard  registration  removed  him 

15 


16  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

from  free  intercourse  with  Trumbull  in  his  rank  of 
twenty-eighth,  or  how  congenial  these  two  lads 
may  have  been  to  one  another,  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  It  must  be  true,  however,  that  the  coterie 
of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  undergraduates 
of  the  time  should  have  been,  during  their  college 
course,  in  much  closer  contact  than  the  great  bodies 
of  undergraduates  in  our  universities  of  to-day. 
Hutchinson  was  just  a  year  younger  than  Trum 
bull,  so  it  is  not  necessary  to  regard  the  latter  as 
an  infant  prodigy  because  he  entered  college  at 
the  age  of  thirteen,  which,  as  far  as  can  be  ascer 
tained,  was  about  the  average  of  Freshmen  at  the 
time.  Another  classmate,  Benjamin  Church,  is 
erroneously  supposed  by  Stuart  to  have  been  the 
Doctor  Benjamin  Church  who  in  1775  was  con 
victed  of  secret  correspondence  with  the  enemy, 
and  was  sent,  by  Washington,  to  Connecticut  for 
safe  keeping  under  the  direction  of  the  Governor 
and  his  Council  of  Safety.  This  Benjamin  Church 
was  of  the  class  of  1754,  and  had  probably  never 
seen  Governor  Trumbull. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  all  the  other  Harvard 
students  of  his  time  who  attained  much  distinction 
were  loyalists  in  Revolutionary  times.  In  the  class 
below  him  was  Jonathan  Belcher,  afterwards  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  Lieutenant 
Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  which  land  his  Tory 
principles  compelled  him  to  flee.  In  Belcher's 
class,  too,  we  find  Edmund  Trowbridge,  another 
Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Massachusetts,  a 
loyalist  who,  according  to  Sabine,  was  so  favorably 


CLASSMATES  17 

regarded  by  his  countrymen  that  he  remained  at 
home,  unmolested,  during  the  Revolution.  In  Trum- 
bull's  Senior  year,  there  appeared  a  Freshman  of 
thirteen  at  Harvard,  named  Peter  Oliver,  whom 
any  Senior  might  send  on  errands  under  the  fagging 
system  then  prevailing,  and  who,  forty-six  years 
later,  was  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts,  and 
obliged  to  flee  to  Halifax  on  account  of  his  loyalty 
to  King  George  III.  This  same  Oliver  is  lampooned 
by  John  Trumbull  in  his  "MacFingal."  His  brother 
Andrew  of  Stamp  Act  fame  was  a  Junior  when 
Trumbull  entered  Harvard  as  a  Freshman.  An 
other  member  of  Oliver's  class  was  Eliakim  Hutchin- 
son  of  Boston,  who,  though  he  died  in  1775,  was 
well  known  to  be  a  loyalist  of  high  social  standing, 
a  member  of  the  Council  and  Judge  of  one  of  the 
Courts  of  Massachusetts.  In  the  same  class  we 
find  Thomas  Steele  of  Leicester,  Massachusetts,  a 
town  clerk,  Representative  in  the  General  Assem 
bly,  and  Judge,  standing  in  his  class  fourth  in 
social  rank,  "a  man  of  high  respectability  of  char 
acter"  who  "possessed  the  confidence  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  though  differing  from  them  in  political 
sentiments."  1  In  this  class,  too,  appears  Josiah 
Edson,  who,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution, 
gained  the  odious  distinction  of  a  "Rescinder"  and 
"Mandamus  Councillor",  suffered  mob  violence, 
fled  to  Halifax,  and  died  in  New  York  in  1778. 
He  also  is  mentioned  in  John  Trumbull's  "Mac 
Fingal",  as  "that  old  simplicity  of  Edson." 

1  Sabine's  "  Biographical   Sketches  of  Loyalists  of  the  American  Revolu 
tion." 


i8  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

It  would  almost  seem  that  in  Trumbull's  day 
at  Harvard  an  influence  prevailed  which  nearly 
a  half  century  later  bred  Tories  among  the  sons  of 
Massachusetts  and  Whigs  among  the  sons  of  Con 
necticut.  A  few  exceptions  may  be  found,  as  in  the 
case  of  Benjamin  Kent,  a  classmate  of  Trumbull's, 
who  is  doubtless  the  man  of  that  name  who,  with 
Samuel  Adams  and  others,  addressed  the  people 
of  Boston  in  1774  at  tne  Old  South  Meetinghouse 
in  favor  of  Committees  of  Correspondence.  In 
the  class  below  was  Josiah  Quincy,  Senior,  less 
noted  than  his  son  Josiah,  but  of  whom  it  is  re 
corded  that  there  was  a  plot  against  his  life,  and 
the  life  of  Benjamin  Kent.1  A  notable  Connecti 
cut  Whig  in  the  class  below  Trumbull's  was  the 
Reverend  Nathaniel  Eells  of  Stonington,  who,  at 
an  advanced  age,  marched  with  some  of  his  parish 
ioners  to  the  front  at  the  time  of  the  Lexington 
alarm. 

Thus  we  find  that  of  eleven  Harvard  students 
of  Trumbull's  day,  including  himself,  seven  be 
came  Massachusetts  Tories,  two  Massachusetts 
Whigs  and  two  Connecticut  Whigs.  The  political 
sentiments  which  the  other  students  espoused  in 
the  days  of  the  Revolution  are  more  difficult,  per 
haps  impossible,  to  determine.  Certain  it  is  that 
of  all  the  students  of  his  day,  identified  and  uni 
dentified,  Trumbull's  political  principles  were  of 
the  most  pronounced  "Whig"  character,  and  that 
the  public  offices  which  he  occupied  during  the 
Revolution  and  the  times  which  led  to  it  enabled 

1  Letters  and  Diary  of  John  Rowe,  Boston,  1903 ;   p.  224. 


PREPARATION  FOR   THE  MINISTRY   19 

him,  as  we  shall  see,  to  do  yeoman's  service  in 
the  cause  of  his  country.  The  keynote  of  the  Revo 
lution,  "no  taxation  without  representation",  must 
have  been  instilled  in  his  youthful  mind  in  his  boy 
hood  days;  for  we  learn  from  the  official  reports 
of  the  discomfited  Governor  Benjamin  Fletcher 
that  this  cry  was  in  the  air  in  Connecticut  as  early 
as  in  the  days  of  William  and  Mary;  and  we  have 
seen,  too,  that  Trumbull's  native  town  of  Lebanon 
was  only  admitted  to  representation  in  the  General 
Assembly  after  presenting  its  grand  list  for  taxa 
tion  by  that  body.  This  same  question  of  taxa 
tion  with  representation  was  doubtless  discussed 
among  the  Harvard  students  of  his  day,  and  prob 
ably  the  Tory  and  Whig  principles  which  pronounce 
themselves  nearly  half  a  century  later  among  the 
eleven  students  just  enumerated  were  espoused  by 
them  at  the  time. 

Upon  returning  to  his  home  at  Lebanon,  after 
completing  his  college  course,  it  was  decided  that 
Trumbull  should  prepare  for  the  ministry.  This 
was,  doubtless,  his  own  choice,  in  view  of  the  devo 
tional  and  religious  character  of  the  young  man. 
He  united  in  full  communion  with  the  church  at 
Lebanon,  and  commenced  the  study  of  divinity, 
in  which  his  college  course  had  already  grounded 
him,  with  the  Reverend  Solomon  Williams,  his 
pastor,  a  man  of  prominence  among  the  theolo 
gians  of  his  day,  who,  at  a  later  time,  became  engaged 
in  theological  controversies  with  the  Reverend  An 
drew  Crosswell,  a  college  mate  of  TrumbulPs,  and 
with  the  famous  Doctor  Jonathan  Edwards,  Senior. 


20  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

The  course  in  divinity  which  Trumbull  pursued  was 
not,  as  we  shall  see,  to  bear  fruit  in  the  ministry, 
but  that  it  bore  some  fruit  we  learn  from  the  follow 
ing  well-authenticated  story  —  a  story  which,  when 
recently  told  to  the  Honorable  James  Bryce,1  im 
pressed  him  as  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  social 
and  religious  conditions  of  the  times. 

The  favorite  themes  of  discussion  among  the 
farm  laborers  of  Lebanon  —  and  Lebanon  men  were 
then  practically  all  farm  laborers  —  were  of  a  theo 
logical  character.  There  were  times  when  the 
subject  was  too  profound,  or  provoked  too  heated 
controversies.  At  such  times  it  was  agreed  among 
the  disputants  that  subjects  of  this  kind  should 
be  referred  to  Mr.  Trumbull.  In  the  haying  season 
especially,  during  the  noon  rest,  he  would,  either 
by  request  or  by  his  own  inclination,  join  the  men, 
listen  to  the  questions  they  had  reserved  for  him, 
and  give  them  his  opinion  from  the  light  of  his 
theological  studies.  The  opinions  so  given  by  him 
were  taken  as  conclusive,  and  caused,  no  doubt, 
deep  satisfaction  in  the  minds  of  the  men  who  had 
reserved  their  questions  for  his  decision. 

His  studies  in  divinity  appear  to  have  occupied 
about  three  years,  for  on  October  13,  1730,  he 
received  the  license  of  the  Windham  Association, 
and  the  life  and  profession  of  a  Congregational 
clergyman  now  opened  before  him.2  Not  long 
after  this,  his  brother  Joseph  sailed  upon  a  voyage 

1  By  Doctor  George  P.  Fisher. 

2  Some  of  his  sermons,  in  manuscript  are  in  possession  of  the  Connecticut 
Historical  Society. 


A  LICENSED  CLERGYMAN  21 

to  London  in  the  interests  of  the  growing  business 
of  his  father,  with  which  business  the  son  Jonathan 
had  also  become  somewhat  familiar.  At  about 
this  time  he  received  a  call  to  become  pastor  of 
the  church  of  Colchester.  The  absence  of  his  Brother 
caused  him,  no  doubt,  to  defer  the  acceptance  of 
this  call,  for  his  father  was  now  a  man  of  fifty- 
four,  and  needed  the  help  of  one  son  in  the  absence 
of  the  other.  But  no  tidings  came  from  the  absent 
son  or  from  the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed,  and  as 
weeks  of  anxious  waiting  grew  into  months,  the 
sad  conclusion  that  he  had  been  lost  at  sea  was 
forced  upon  the  family.  With  the  younger  brother, 
duty'  always  came  before  inclination.  He  reluc 
tantly  declined  the  call  to  Colchester,  and  took 
the  place  of  his  elder  brother,  as  the  right-hand 
man  of  his  stricken  father. 

Thus  the  young  clergyman  of  twenty-two  be 
came  the  young  merchant  farmer,  embarking  upon 
a  career  which  he  pursued  with  varying  fortunes 
for  more  than  thirty  years  in  the  midst  of  active 
public  duties.  The  change  from  the  ministry  to  a 
mercantile  life  was  doubtless  a  sad  disappointment 
to  him,  but  his  keen  sense  of  duty  did  not  allow 
him  to  hesitate,  and  his  faculty  for  doing  with 
his  might  whatever  his  hands  found  to  do  soon  led 
him  to  forget  his  regrets  by  means  of  the  whole- 
somest  of  all  anodynes,  hard  work.  Of  the  kind 
and  conditions  of  this  work  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
with  exactness.  His  father  having  embarked  in 
foreign  commerce  in  addition  to,  or  in  connection 
with,  his  farming,  the  office  work,  correspondence 


22  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

and  more  clerkly  portions  of  the  business  naturally 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  college-bred  son.  The  father 
held  at  this  time  the  military  position  of  Quarter 
master  "of  the  Troop  in  the  county  of  Windham", 
a  county  of  six  years'  standing,  comprising  eleven 
towns,  which,  at  the  time  of  its  establishment,  con 
tained  a  regiment  of  troops.  This  position,  no 
doubt,  during  the  two  years  in  which  he  held  it, 
furnished  quite  an  amount  of  business  in  addition 
to  the  regular  routine  and  new  enterprises  in  which 
he  was  engaged. 


CHAPTER   III 


HOME     AFFAIRS  —  DELEGATE     TO     THE     GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY  —  MARRIAGE  —  THE  ROBINSONS 


old  epigram,  "Man  proposes  but  God 
|  disposes",  was  most  happily  exemplified 
JL  in  the  change  from  the  comparative 
seclusion  of  a  clergyman's  life  to  the  more  active 
participation  in  the  affairs  of  his  fellowmen  to 
which  Trumbull  was  now  called.  It  was,  as  it 
had  been  since  his  birth,  still  a  time  of  peace  and 
prosperity  in  the  colony  of  Connecticut.  The 
troubles  attending  the  location  of  new  meeting 
houses,  and  the  formation  of  new  ecclesiastical 
societies  in  the  various  towns  formed  the  nearest 
approach  to  war  which  these  peaceful  times  afforded. 
A  truce  of  more  than  thirty  years  had  been 
declared  in  the  Lebanon  "meetinghouse  war",  so 
called,  by  an  agreement  between  the  existing  First 
Society  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern  por 
tion  of  its  parish  to  refund  money  which  they  had 
paid  for  church  rates  if  they  should  within  a  given 
time  be  made  a  separate  ecclesiastical  society,  as 
the  southern  portion  had  already  been  made.  In 
Guilford,  however,  a  controversy  involving  the 
rejection  of  the  Saybrook  Platform  by  a  part  of  the 
congregation  of  the  First  Society  was  at  its  height 
at  about  this  time,  the  efforts  of  the  General 
Assembly  having,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  proved 

23 


24  JONATHAN   TRUMBULl 

fruitless  in  reconciling  the  differences.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  the  Reverend  Solomon  Williams 
found  the  Guilford  troubles  a  useful  object  lesson 
in  expounding  theology  to  his  young  student. 

Church  and  State,  we  must  remember,  were  prac 
tically  one  in  these  days,  and  the  attempted  settle 
ment  of  difficulties  among  existing  church  societies 
and  the  establishing  of  new  societies  formed  a  large 
and  not  always  successful  part  of  the  business  of 
the  General  Assembly.  To  such  an  extent  was  this 
legislative  control  carried  that  an  important  quali 
fication  for  a  legislator  was  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  theological  tenets  of  the  day,  as  embodied 
in  the  Cambridge  platform,  the  Saybrook  plat 
form,  the  Halfway  Covenant,  and  other  accepted 
beliefs  of  the  Congregational  Church,  together  with 
a  knowledge  of  the  code  of  church  government. 
We  have  seen  how  important  these  matters  were 
in  the  case  of  the  haymakers  and  others  to  whom 
our  young  theologian  expounded  the  vexed  ques 
tions  of  the  day.  Thus,  in  1733,  the  attention  of 
the  Lebanon  freemen,  when  they  were  called  to 
elect  a  new  delegate  to  the  General  Assembly, 
was  turned  to  young  Jonathan  Trumbull  as  a  man 
well  versed  in  theology  and  now,  after  some  mer 
cantile  experience,  conversant  with  the  affairs  of 
men  as  well.  He  was  elected  a  delegate  in  this 
year,  thus  beginning  a  public  career  which  he  con 
tinued  almost  uninterruptedly  for  half  a  century. 
In  the  following  year,  he  failed  of  a  reelection, 
if,  indeed,  he  attempted  one,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Ebenezer  West,  who  by  the  political  methods  of 


COURTSHIP  AND  MARRIAGE          25 

the  day,  or  otherwise,  regained  the  position  of  dep 
uty,  of  which  he  had  been  deprived  in  the  previous 
year  by  the  election  of  Trumbull.  In  1736,  William 
Throop,  West's  associate,  gave  place  to  Trumbull, 
from  which  date  the  record  of  his  public  sejFvice 
and  offices  is  continuous  up  to  the  year  1783  when 
he  declined  the  renomination  for  Governor. 

The  years  1734  and  1735  were  devoted,  probably, 
to  business,  with  some  notable  exceptions.  We 
find  him  in  the  latter  year  commissioned  as  Lieu 
tenant  in  the  "Troop  of  Horse",  thus  beginning 
his  schooling  in  military  life,  an  important  factor 
in  the  public  duties  to  which  he  was  afterwards 
called.  Far  more  important  and  far  more  en 
grossing,  no  doubt,  during  this  year  and  perhaps 
some  previous  years,  was  his  courtship  of  Mistress 
Faith  Robinson  who  was  in  the  habit  of  coming 
from  her  home  in  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  to 
visit  her  sister  Mrs.  Eliot,  wife  of  Reverend  Jacob 
Eliot,  the  pastor  of  Goshen  parish  in  Lebanon. 
The  courtship,  which  is  said  by  some  to  have  been 
due  to  a  business  visit  of  TrumbulPs  to  Duxbury, 
and  by  others  to  have  begun  in  an  acquaintance  at 
Lebanon,  resulted  in  his  marriage  to  Faith  Robinson 
on  December  9, 1 73  5 .  The  marriage  was  a  happy  and 
suitable  one.  She  was  then  a  girl  of  seventeen,  of 
Mayflower  stock  on  her  mother's  side,  and  descended 
from  a  great-grandfather  Robinson  who  came  to 
Dorchester  in  1635  or  1636.  Her  Mayflower  descent 
was  from  the  pilgrim  John  Alden,  whose  daughter 
Elizabeth,  born  in  1625,  married  William  Pabodie 
of  Duxbury,  December  26,  1644.  Their  daughter 


26  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Priscilla  married,  December  10,  1679,  Reverend 
Ichabod  Wiswall  of  Duxbury,  whose  daughter 
Hannah  married,  January  31,  1705,  or  1706,  Rev 
erend  John  Robinson,  the  father  of  Faith  Robinson. 
As  the  marriage  of  TrumbuH's  father  had  given  his 
children  an  earlier  New  England  ancestry  than 
his  own,  so  the  marriage  of  his  son  linked  the  family 
to  a  still  earlier,  and  the  earliest  possible,  ancestry 
of  the  kind. 

It  seems  necessary  to  correct  the  statement 
which  has  appeared  in  Stuart's  Life  of  Trumbull 
and  elsewhere  that  Faith  Robinson  was  lineally 
descended  from  the  Puritan  leader,  John  Robinson 
of  Leyden.  Until  this  statement  was  carefully 
investigated  by  the  Reverend  Edward  Robinson 
in  1859,  it  was  a  cherished  belief  in  the  Trumbull 
family  and  in  some  branches  of  the  Robinson  family. 
The  investigation  referred  to  has  resulted  in  the 
discovery  of  a  distinct  family  tradition  traced  to 
the  father  of  Faith  (Robinson)  Trumbull,  to  the 
effect  "that  there  was  no  connection  between  him 
and  John  Robinson  of  Leyden."  1 

At  the  time  of  her  marriage  with  Trumbull, 
Faith  Robinson  had  been  motherless  for  thirteen 
years,  her  mother  having  been  drowned  at  Nan- 
tasket  Beach  while  on  the  passage  from  Duxbury 
to  Boston  in  a  small  coasting  vessel;  her  oldest 
sister,  Mary,  also  perished  in  the  same  sad  disaster. 
Thus,  at  the  age  of  four,  Faith  was  left  to  the  care 

1 "  Memoir  of  the  Reverend  William  Robinson  .  .  .  With  Some  Account 
of  His  Ancestors  in  this  Country",  by  his  son,  Edward  Robinson,  N.  Y.,  1859; 
p.  62. 


THE  ROBINSONS  27 

of  an  eccentric  father  and  three  older  sisters,  the 
eldest  of  whom  was  then  fourteen. 

A  wrong  impression  would  be  given  of  her  father 
if  we  characterize  him  solely  as  eccentric.  He  was 
a  man  of  marked  ability  as  a  preacher,  being  original 
and  forceful  in  his  treatment  of  his  subjects.  He 
had  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  sometimes  a  forcible 
way  of  expressing  himself,  as  when,  after  applying 
for  an  increase  in  salary,  he  was  reminded  of  a 
previous  increase  besides  the  improvement  of  some 
thirty  acres  of  upland  in  Weechertown.  "  Weecher- 
town?"  said  he,  "thirty  acres  in  Weechertown? 
Why,  if  you  were  to  mow  it  with  a  razor  and  rake 
it  with  a  fine-tooth  comb,  you  wouldn't  get  enough 
from  it  to  winter  a  grasshopper."  For  thirty  years 
he  continued  his  ministry  in  Duxbury,  until  at  last 
dissensions  arose  in  his  flock,  leading  him  to  ask  for 
a  dismissal  from  his  pastorate,  after  having  obtained 
judgment  against  the  parish  for  arrearages  in  the 
payment  of  his  salary  amounting  to  £412,  los. 
6d.  He  then  removed  to  Lebanon  where  two  of  his 
married  daughters  were  living  and  where  he  bought 
of  his  son-in-law,  Jonathan  Trumbull,  two  tracts  of 
land  in  Goshen  parish.  He  died  in  Lebanon  on 
November  14,  1745,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four. 
The  Boston  Newsletter  of  the  sixteenth  of  November 
contains  a  brief  sketch  of  his  life,  closing  with  the 
following  words: 

"He  was  a  learned  and  sound  Divine;  laborious 
and  faithful  in  his  Master's  Vineyard.  In  civil 
life  he  was  just,  generous,  of  a  cheerful  and  pleasant 
Disposition,  and  a  faithful  Friend/' 


28  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

To  what  extent  the  character  and  eccentricities  of 
John  Robinson  were  inherited  by  his  daughter  Faith 
it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say.  Her  mother  was 
evidently  a  woman  of  fine  character,  deeply  beloved 
by  her  husband  and  family,  and  esteemed  most 
highly  in  the  community.  Her  virtues  were  com 
memorated  in  verse  by  the  Reverend  Nathaniel 
Pitcher  of  Scituate,  who  makes  personal  mention 
of  her  in  the  following  quaint  lines: 

"One  of  the  Gowned  Tribe  and  Family, 
Of  bright  descent  and  Worthy  Pedigree; 
A  charming  daughter  in  our  Israel, 
In  vertuous  acts  and  Deeds  seen  to  excel; 
As  Mother,  Mistress,  Neighbor,  Wife,  most  rare; 
Should  I  exceed,  to  say  beyond  compare? 
Call  her  the  Phoenix,  yet  you  cannot  lye, 
Whether  it  be  in  Prose  or  Poetry. 
For  Meekness,  Piety  and  Patience; 
Rare  Modesty,  Unwearied  Diligence, 
For  Gracious  Temper,  Prudent  Conduct,  too, 
How  few  of  the  fair  sex  could  her  outdo? 
Beloved  of  all  while  living,  and  now  dead, 
The  female  Hadadrimmon's  lost  their  head." 

The  virtues  of  the  mother  were  certainly  re 
produced  in  her  daughter  Faith.  One  of  many 
instances  of  her  faithful  motherhood  is  found  in 
her  unremitting  care  of  her  son  John  in  the  critical 
days  of  his  infancy,  when,  by  her  patient,  long- 
continued  care,  she  saved  him  from  the  effects  of 
malformation  of  the  skull,  which,  without  her  con 
stant,  unwearying  attention  would  have  resulted  in 
early  death  or  prolonged  insanity.1  Thus  it  is  that 

1  Colonel  John  Trumbull's  "  Autobiography,  Reminiscences  and  Letters." 


HIS  CHILDREN  29 

to  her  our  country  owes  the  brilliant  career  of  Colo 
nel  John  Trumbull,  distinguished  as  a  soldier  and 
still  more  as  a  pioneer  in  American  art,  of  whom 
more  must  be  said  as  we  follow  the  narrative  of  his 
father's  life.  That  the  mother  inherited  some  of 
the  more  striking  traits  of  her  father  we  may  learn 
later  from  her  public  contribution  of  her  handsome 
scarlet  cloak,  the  gift,  it  is  said,  of  Rochambeau  in 
the  days  of  the  Revolution,1  and  from  her  brave, 
inspiring  words  to  her  son,  when,  as  she  believed, 
she  was  parting  from  him  forever,  as  he  left  his 
home  in  Lebanon  to  join  the  army  at  Cambridge.2 

For  forty-five  years  she  shared  the  joys,  cares 
and  sorrows  of  her  husband's  life,  during  which 
time  she  faithfully  reared  a  family  of  four  sons  and 
two  daughters.  These  children  were: 

JOSEPH,  born  March  n,  1737.  He  was  the 
first  commissary  general  of  the  Continental  army, 
and  died  on  July  23,  1778,  from  the  cares,  hard 
ships  and  fatigues  of  this  onerous  position.  He 
married  Amelia  Dyer,  in  March,  1777. 

JONATHAN,  born  March  26,  1740.  He  occupied 
the  following  positions:  Deputy  Paymaster-general, 
1775;  first  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury,  1778; 
secretary  and  first  aide  to  General  Washington, 
1780;  Representative  in  the  first  Congress  of  the 
United  States  under  the  Constitution,  1789; 
Speaker,  House  of  Representatives,  1791;  Senator, 
1794;  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Connecticut,  1796; 
Governor,  1798  to  the  time  of  his  death, — Aug- 

1  Stuart's  "Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Senior." 

2  Colonel  John  Trumbull's  "Autobiography,  Reminiscences  and  Letters." 


30  JONArHAN   TRUMBULL 

ust  7,  1809.  He  married,  March  16,  1767,  Eunice 
Backus. 

FAITH,  born  January  25,  1743;  married  Colonel, 
afterwards  General  Jedediah  Huntington.  Her  solic 
itude  for  the  safety  of  her  husband  and  brothers 
brought  on  mental  derangement,  resulting  in  her 
death  on  November  24,  1775. 

MARY,  born  July  16,  1745;  married  February 
14,  1771,  William  Williams,  signer  of  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence.  She  died  February  9,  1831. 

DAVID,  born  February  5,  1752;  married  Sarah 
Backus.  He  was  actively  employed  in  the  State 
commissary  department  and  in  special  service 
during  the  Revolution.  He  died  January  17,  1822. 

JOHN,  born  June  6,  1756;  died  November  10, 
1843.  He  married  an  English  lady  in  London.  He 
was  second  aide  to  Washington  in  1775;  Major 
of  Brigade,  1776;  Adjutant  and  Quartermaster- 
general  with  the  rank  of  Colonel,  1777.  He  pursued 
the  study  of  art  from  an  early  age  and  became  noted 
principally  as  an  historical  painter. 

At  the  time  of  the  marriage  of  Faith  Robinson 
and  Jonathan  Trumbull  the  influence  of  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Great  Awakening  had  been  felt  in 
Connecticut.  The  solemn  warnings  of  the  great 
Jonathan  Edwards  had  already  been  heard  in 
Northampton,  and  had  been  echoed  down  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  to  be  followed  by  the 
more  exciting  utterances  of  Whitefield,  Tennent  and 
Davenport  in  later  years.  Just  how  these  warnings 
and  this  renewal  of  religious  emotion,  which  at 
this  time  seemed  dormant,  affected  young  Trum- 


HIS  CHILDREN  31 

bull's  mind,  we  can  only  conjecture.  That  the 
situation  awakened  him  to  deep  thought,  perhaps 
to  renewed  devotion,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  But, 
so  far  as  we  can  learn,  his  religious  faith,  like  his 
political  faith,  was  always  active  and  needed  no 
special  awakening.  To  a  man  so  liberal  in  his 
later  views  of  toleration  in  religious  matters  and 
so  imbued  as  he  then  and  always  was  with  the 
principles  of  political  freedom,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  Great  Awakening  which  soon  fol 
lowed  broadened  and  deepened  his  spiritual  life 
and  strengthened  his  well-grounded  belief  in  the 
righteousness  of  liberty  protected  by  law. 


CHAPTER  IV 

APPRENTICESHIP     IN     POLITICS  —  DEPUTY SPEAKER 

OF  THE  HOUSE   OF    REPRESENTATIVES ASSISTANT 

NEW  AND  STIRRING  TIMES LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  - 

JUDGE MAN    OF    BUSINESS 

IN  the  October  session  of  1736,  Trumbull  re 
sumed  what  we  may  call  his  apprenticeship 
in  political  life  by  taking  again  the  position 
of  deputy  for  Lebanon  in  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut.  Evidences  are  not  lacking  that 
in  these  early  years  of  his  public  life  he  paid  scru 
pulous  attention  to  the  duties  of  his  position.  Por 
tions  of  his  journal  are  still  in  existence,  minutely 
recording  the  legislative  proceedings  of  the  time 
from  the  beginning  of  his  first  attendance.  There 
is  little  in  the  journals  which  is  of  interest  to  the 
general  reader,  for  the  times  were  peaceful,  and 
the  record  is  purely  official,  being  almost  a  duplica 
tion  of  the  printed  records  of  the  colony  of  Con 
necticut  for  the  time.  Nothing  appears  to  show  his 
personal  impressions  or  opinions  on  the  questions 
before  the  house,  the  humdrum  nature  of  which  is 
so  apparent  as  to  leave  little  or  no  room  for  com 
ment.  The  lack  of  personal  opinions  or  impressions 
to  be  found  in  his  journal  and  the  few  meager  and 
inadequate  reports  of  others  regarding  the  personal 
appearance  and  character  of  the  man  leave  much 
to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  direct  testimony.  We 

32 


DEPUrr  IN  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY     33 

shall  learn  from  later  descriptions  by  his  enemies 
that  his  height  was  five  feet,  seven  inches,  and  that 
he  was  alert  and  graceful  in  his  movements.  Even 
when  he  had  reached  an  advanced  age,  this  same 
minute  attention  to  minor  details,  which  his  journal 
discloses,  made  him  appear  ludicrous  to  some  of  the 
noblemen  of  the  gay  court  of  Louis  XVI,  who  de 
scribe  the  Connecticut  magistrate  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  French  courtier  visiting  the  America 
of  Revolutionary  days. 

On  March  n,  1737,  his  son  Joseph  was  born. 
With  this  beginning  of  the  dignity  of  fatherhood, 
the  dignity  of  special  committee  work  in  the  General 
Assembly  was  also  first  assigned  to  him.  The 
committee  on  which  he  was  appointed  was  in 
structed  "to  ascertain  and  fix  a  place"  for  erecting 
a  meetinghouse  in  the  New  Concord  Society  of 
Norwich,  now  in  Bozrah.  It  would  seem  that  after 
the  appointment  of  this  committee  the  New  Con 
cord  became  the  New  Discord  Society;  for  a  re- 
appointment  of  the  committee  became  necessary  a 
year  later,  owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  owner  to 
convey  to  the  Society  the  land  selected  for  the  site 
of  the  meetinghouse;  and  upon  the  selection  of 
another  site,  the  Society  petitioned  for  a  change  of 
location,  which  petition  was,  in  the  following  year, 
referred  to  a  new  committee.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  first  of  TrumbulPs  numerous  attempts  at 
locating  meetinghouses  by  direction  of  the  General 
Assembly  was  not  a  successful  one,  though  doubt 
less  it  was  fruitful  in  experience.  Perhaps  for  this 
reason,  upon  the  appointment  of  a  new  committee 


34  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

to  settle  the  New  Concord  difficulties,  he  was  im 
mediately  appointed  on  another  committee  to  locate 
a  meetinghouse  in  the  North  Parish  of  New  London, 
which  duty  appears  to  have  been  performed  on  the 
first  attempt. 

This  was  in  1739,  in  which  year  he  was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  having 
in  the  previous  year  occupied,  for  a  short  time,  the 
position  of  Clerk.  Thus  the  long  political  appren 
ticeship  which  he  was  still  serving  showed  marked 
progress  in  this  year,  in  his  election  to  this  advanced 
position  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine.  It  was  with  him 
a  year  of  progress  in  all  directions,  for  at  the  October 
session  we  find  him  commissioned  Lieutenant  Colonel 
of  the  Twelfth  Regiment  of  the  colony.  At  the 
May  session,  too,  he  received  his  second  appoint 
ment  as  "Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Quorum  in  and 
for  the  county  of  Windham." 

In  his  home  at  Lebanon  he  appears  at  this  time 
as  one  of  the  promoters  of  a  library  company  which 
formed  the  nearest  approach  to  a  public  library 
which  the  times  afforded.  It  bore  the  classical  and 
high-sounding  title  of  the  Philogrammatican  Library, 
and  its  privileges  were  limited  to  the  use  of  share 
holders  who  contributed  fifty  pounds  each.  The 
records  of  this  library  are  in  TrumbulPs  handwriting, 
and  show  that  the  purchase  of  a  record  book  con 
sisting  of  three  or  four  quires  of  paper,  covered  with 
parchment,  was  in  those  days  a  matter  of  sufficient 
importance  to  require  the  vote  of  the  shareholders. 
The  catalogue  includes  such  titles  as  "Moody's 
Gospel  Way  of  Escaping  the  Doleful  State  of  the 


STIRRING   TIMES  35 

Damned",  with  numerous  other  theological,  his 
torical,  medical  and  legal  works,  the  nearest  ap 
proach  to  light  reading  being  "Lyrick  Poems"  by 
some  author  now  unknown.  Among  the  share 
holders  associated  with  Trumbull  are  to  be  found 
Eleazer  Wheelock,  founder  of  Dartmouth  College, 
Samuel  Huntington,  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  and  afterwards  Governor  of  Connec 
ticut,  Thomas  Clap,  President  of  Yale  College, 
and  others  almost  as  notable.  This  library  com 
pany  had  an  existence  of  more  than  half  a  century, 
and  was  finally  dissolved  in  1792. 

The  year  1740  opened  to  our  young  legislator 
a  new  experience,  for  the  peaceful  times  of  his 
earlier  membership  in  the  General  Assembly  now 
gave  place  to  a  formally  declared  war  with  Spain, 
in  which  Connecticut  was  to  bear  her  part.  Here 
began  his  long  schooling  in  those  warlike  measures 
which  his  colony  and  State  of  Connecticut  was  to 
pursue  almost  uninterruptedly  for  the  rest  of  his 
life.  The  war  with  Spain  was  soon  to  merge  itself 
into  the  war  with  France,  hardly  interrupted  by 
the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748,  and  ending 
only  in  the  fall  of  Quebec  in  1759  and  of  Montreal 
in  the  following  year. 

During  all  these  twenty  years  the  little  colony 
of  Connecticut  may  be  said  to  have  kept  herself 
on  a  war  footing;  and  her  soldiers  were  present  in 
greater  or  smaller  numbers  in  almost  every  engage 
ment  in  these  long  wars.  By  the  irony  of  fate, 
the  very  services  of  the  colonies,  which  should  have 
led  the  Mother  Country  to  recognize  Americans 


36  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

as  brothers  in  race  as  well  as  brothers  in  arms,  led, 
instead,  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  the  clouds 
of  which  began  to  gather  soon  after  the  war  with 
France,  which  was  not  officially  ended  until  the 
treaty  of  Paris  in  1763. 

The  first  official  announcement  of  the  war  with 
Spain  came  to  Trumbull's  ears,  no  doubt,  as  a  new 
experience,  in  April,  1740,  when  the  king's  procla 
mation  was  sent  to  the  towns  in  Connecticut  by 
order  of  the  Governor.  One  thousand  men  were 
called  for  from  New  England  for  the  expedition 
against  the  Spanish  West  Indies.  At  the  special 
session  of  the  General  Assembly  which  was  held  in 
the  following  July,  active  preparations  were  made 
for  coast  defences  against  incursions  of  the  enemy, 
and  for  sending  forward  the  Connecticut  volun 
teers  who  had  enlisted  for  the  expedition  to  the 
West  Indies.  A  special  issue  of  £4000  was  made  for 
the  payment  of  bounties  to  volunteers  in  this  ex 
pedition.  The  colony,  with  its  usual  businesslike 
and  statesmanlike  promptness,  entered  at  once  into 
all  the  details  needed  for  this  sudden  call. 

This  special  session  in  July  marks  another  im 
portant  advance  in  Trumbull's  political  life;  for 
we  find  him  now  on  record  for  the  first  time  as  one 
of  the  twelve  Assistants  of  the  Colony,  who,  with 
the  Deputy  Governor,  composed  the  Governor's 
council.  Notwithstanding  the  bicameral  system 
which  had  prevailed  in  the  General  Assembly  since 
1698,  this  was  a  council  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name, 
and  gave  its  members  the  most  intimate  relations 
with  the  administrative  affairs  of  the  colony. 


ASSISTANT  37 

To  Trumbull,  as  a  legislator  and  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council,  as  a  military  man,  and  as  a 
man  of  business,  the  warlike  aspect  of  affairs  bore 
a  threefold  significance.  We  may  be  sure  that  with 
him  personal  considerations  came  last,  important 
though  they  were,  for  his  numerous  coastwise  and 
foreign  shipments  were  in  danger  of  seizure  by 
armed  vessels  of  the  enemy,  and  his  mercantile 
interests  at  home  and  abroad  were  rendered  in 
secure  by  the  troublous  times  now  beginning. 
Rumors  of  Spanish  war  vessels  cruising  off  the 
harbor  of  New  London  and  other  Connecticut 
ports  were  rife ;  and  Connecticut  sailors  and  soldiers 
were  joining  the  ill-fated  expedition  to  the  West 
Indies  from  which  but  one  in  ten  returned. 

Just  what  his  public  duties  were  at  this  time, 
beyond  his  assignments  on  committees,  it  is  im 
possible  to  learn.  The  sessions  of  the  General 
Assembly  during  the  year  1740  were  three  in  number 
and  the  regular  sessions  unusually  long.  We  find 
him  on  a  committee  to  investigate  fraudulent 
transfers  of  real  estate,  and  we  find  him  in  con 
stant  attendance  as  Deputy  in  May,  and  Assistant 
in  July  and  October.  The  year,  too,  was  one  of 
both  loss  and  gain  in  his  family  circle.  The  birth 
of  his  son  Jonathan  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  March 
was  followed  by  the  death,  by  drowning,  of  his  only 
remaining  brother,  David,  on  the  ninth  of  July, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  thus  completing  the  sad 
and  fateful  record  of  death  by  drowning  of  all  the 
sons  of  his  father's  house  excepting  himself. 

The  position  of  Assistant  to  which  he  was  elected 


38  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

at  the  May  session  in  1740  was  occupied  by  him 
until  1752,  when  he  was  again  made  Speaker  of 
the*  House  of  Representatives,  resuming  the  posi 
tion  of  Assistant  in  1754,  from  which  time  he  held 
this  office  continuously  until  his  election  as  Deputy 
Governor  in  1766.  In  addition  to  these  legislative 
duties,  he  held,  for  the  twenty  years  beginning  in 
1746,  the  position  of  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court 
of  Windham,  being  also  Judge  of  Probate  for  the 
district  for  the  twenty  years  beginning  in  1747. 
In  1766  he  was  appointed  Chief  Judge  of  the  Su 
perior  Courts  of  the  colony,  which  position  he  held 
until  his  election  as  Governor  in  1769.  During  all, 
or  nearly  all,  this  period  of  thirty  years  from  1740 
to  1769,  he  was  actively  engaged  in  business,  be 
coming  a  prosperous  merchant,  and  trading  not 
only  with  the  principal  cities  on  the  American 
coast,  but  with  the  West  Indies,  Ireland,  England 
and  Mediterranean  ports.  In  1767,  however,  he 
met  with  reverses  from  which  he  never  recovered, 
though  he  afterwards  attempted  various  business 
enterprises  in  the  hope  of  retrieving  his  fortunes. 

But  all  these  experiences  —  political,  judicial  and 
mercantile  —  were  needed  to  round  out  his  prep 
arations  for  the  public  life  to  which  he  was  sub 
sequently  called  in  the  times  which  tried  men's 
souls  through  the  eight  dark  years  of  the  American 
Revolution.  And  through  all  this  preparatory 
period,  there  is  evidence  of  his  scrupulous  faithful 
ness  in  his  varied  duties  as  legislator,  judge,  soldier 
and  merchant.  That  he  had  a  natural  love  for 
work,  which  grew  and  strengthened  as  he  advanced 


MAN  OF  BUSINESS  39 

in  life,  is  plainly  shown  by  the  testimony  of  others 
and  by  the  growing  number  of  increasingly  impor 
tant  duties  assigned  to  him.  And  we  shall  find  in 
a  brief  review  of  his  services  in  the  General  As 
sembly  that  his  business  experience  and  judicial 
experience  were  freely  drawn  upon  and  put  to 
good  use,  as  was  his  knowledge  of  theology,  which 
latter,  as  we  have  already  surmised,  had  much  to 
do  with  his  first  election  as  Deputy. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  in  the  atmos 
phere  and  influences  which  surrounded  him  from 
1740  to  1767  that  his  most  formative  experiences 
may  be  found.  The  problems  which  confronted 
the  little  colony  of  Connecticut  were  many,  and 
the  experience  of  the  legislators  in  solving  them 
was  a  new  one.  The  principles  of  democratic  govern 
ment  were  now  tested  as  they  had  never  been 
tested  in  the  peaceful  generation  which  had  pre 
ceded  that  of  1740,  and  in  the  generations  of  the 
budding  commonwealth  of  still  more  remote  dates. 
Here  was  the  problem  of  a  new  tenor  and  old  tenor 
currency  with  its  delusive  issues  of  paper  money 
which  brought  about  an  indebtedness  of  £131,000 
upon  a  tax  valuation  of  £900,000  in  1744.  Here, 
too,  was  the  question  of  Connecticut's  position  in 
Franklin's  plan  of  uniting  the  colonies,  a  plan  which, 
however  the  wise  philosopher  and  statesman  might 
modify  it,  seemed  to  strike  a  death  blow  to  those 
charter  rights  which  Connecticut  had  been  strug 
gling  for  ninety  long  years  to  defend  and  maintain. 
Here,  too,  was  the  difficulty  of  untangling  the  mass 
of  red  tape  in  which  the  pompous  officials  of  the 


40  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

Mother  Country  enveloped  the  claims  of  the  colony 
to  the  remuneration  which  had  been  promised  for 
expenditures  in  the  war. 

All  this  and  much  more  Trumbull  saw,  and  in  a 
large  part  of  it  he  shared.  He  saw,  too,  his  own 
Connecticut  general,  Lyman,  ignored  in  the  official 
reports  of  the  battle  of  Lake  George  which  was  won 
through  his  bravery  and  generalship,  and  for  which 
William  Johnson  of  New  York  was  made  a  baronet. 
The  inefficiency  and  even  imbecility  of  such  com 
manders  as  Webb,  the  Earl  of  Loudoun,  and  worst 
of  all,  if  possible,  Abercrombie,  were  most  vividly 
brought  to  his  notice,  sometimes  even  in  personal 
council  with  the  men  themselves,  as  when  he  served 
on  a  commission  to  accompany  the  Governor  to 
Boston  to  confer  with  the  Earl  of  Loudoun  on  war 
measures.  On  the  other  hand,  the  great  Pitt  and 
the  chivalrous  and  brilliant  Wolfe  called  forth  his 
admiration  from  afar,  so  much  so  that  he  inserted 
in  his  journal  a  full  copy  of  one  of  Pitt's  letters 
regarding  the  need  for  prompt  recruiting. 

So  far  as  the  records  and  muster  rolls  show, 
TrumbuH's  own  regiment,  the  Twelfth,  of  which 
he  was  made  Colonel  in  1753,  saw  but  little  service 
in  the  war  with  France.  At  times  men  to  the  number 
of  fifty  or  so  were  drafted  or  enlisted  from  the  regi 
ment  for  an  indefinite  term  of  service;  and  at  one 
time  two  companies  of  the  Twelfth  saw  service  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen  days  "in  the  Alarm  for  the  Relief 
of  fort  Wm.  Henry  And  places  Adjacent  In  the 
month  of  August  1757."  None  of  these  services 
called  for  the  presence  of  Colonel  Trumbull  in  the 


MAN  OF  BUSINESS  41 

field;  but  we  find  that  the  details  of  men  and  im 
pressment  of  horses  were  made  by  his  order;  and 
the  payrolls  of  various  companies  show  that  the 
money  was  received  by  the  soldiers  "from  Col. 
Jonathan  Trumble  of  Lebanon."  / 

By  the  time  when  his  men  were  thus  irregularly 
detached  from  his  regiment  for  service,  and  long 
before  this  time,  his  position  as  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council,  as  judge,  and  as  legislator 
rendered  his  civil  services  so  important  that  he 
could  hardly  have  been  spared,  had  he  been  called, 
for  military  service  outside  of  his  colony.  His  con 
nection  with  military  affairs  was,  however,  so  con 
stant,  that  he  became  well  versed  in  tactics,  military 
usages  and  organization.  It  is  fortunate,  too,  that 
the  duties  which  kept  him  at  home  gave  him  a 
broader  view  of  the  stirring  political  life  of  the  time 
than  he  could  ever  have  gained  in  the  narrower 
sphere  of  military  campaigns.  To  a  man  of  liberal 
education,  keen  perception,  and  unwearied  devo 
tion  to  duty,  like  himself,  there  was,  in  the  active, 
many-sided  life  which  he  was  pursuing  at  this  time, 
a  schooling  for  still  higher  duties  which  can  hardly 
be  overestimated.  Among  his  correspondents  at 
this  time  were  his  Harvard  classmate,  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  and  his  Harvard  contemporary,  Andrew 
Oliver. 


CHAPTER  V 

PUBLIC  DUTIES --  ECCLESIASTICAL  AND  MINOR  MAT 
TERS  --  FINANCIAL  AND  JUDICIAL  AFFAIRS CAP 
TURE  OF  LOUISBURG MASSACHUSETTS  BOUNDARY 

—  IMPORTANT    CONFERENCES 

IT  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  records  of  the 
General  Assembly  during  Trumbull's  career  as 
Deputy  and  Assistant  give  us  no  intimation 
of  the  debates  and  discussions  which  took  place 
either  in  the  House  of  Representatives  or  in  the 
Governor's  Council.  Even  the  very  full  and  almost 
garrulous  diary  of  Joshua  Hempstead  has  little  or 
nothing  to  say  of  the  proceedings  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  which  he  was  frequently  a  member  at 
about  these  times;  so  that  it  seems  that  for  a  long 
time  during  the  eighteenth  century,  the  sessions 
of  the  General  Assembly  in  the  old  statehouses 
at  Hartford  and  New  Haven  were  behind  closed 
doors,  and  the  public  were  only  permitted  to  know 
what  was  determined  and  accomplished  by  the 
legislators  of  the  time,  with  no  intimation  as  to  the 
means  by  which  results  were  brought  about.  Thus 
we  must  content  ourselves  with  knowing  what 
duties  were  assigned  to  and  performed  by  the  legis 
lator  in  whose  career  we  are  chiefly  concerned. 

These  duties  began  to  increase  in  number  and 
importance  from  the  time  when  he  was  first  made 
Assistant  in  1740.  By  special  legislation  this  posi- 

42 


PUBLIC  DUTIES  43 

tion  gave  him,  in  these  stirring  times,  authority  as 
a  magistrate  in  certain  cases;  and  the  Governor's 
Council,  of  which  he  was  now  a  member,  was  ex 
pected  to  convene  at  times  when  the  General  As 
sembly  was  not  in  session,  and  at  such  times  to7  act 
upon  any  emergency  which  might  arise. 

The  record  of  the  General  Assembly  shows  that 
ecclesiastical  affairs  were  often  referred  to  him, 
either  individually  or  as  a  member  of  a  committee. 
As  we  have  seen,  he  frequently  located  new  meeting 
houses;  but  other  ecclesiastical  matters  more  diffi 
cult  of  adjustment  also  fell  to  his  lot.  Irregularities 
in  the  payment  of  the  salaries  of  pastors  were  some 
times  complained  of  by  the  pastors  to  the  General 
Assembly,  with  protests  against  receiving  the  de 
preciated  old  tenor  money  in  payment  and  still 
louder  protests  against  receiving  no  money  at  all. 
Such  cases  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  arbitrate  and  adjust, 
as  it  also  fell  to  his  lot  to  investigate  applications 
for  forming  new  ecclesiastical  societies  and  to  at 
tempt  adjustments  of  differences  in  existing  ones. 
In  two  or  more  instances  he  was  instructed  to  as 
sume  the  position  of  chairman  of  meetings  of  socie 
ties  called  to  discuss  vexed  questions.  In  1741,  too, 
we  find  him  on  a  committee  with  Ebenezer  Gay  of 
Lebanon  to  thank  the  Reverend  Solomon  Williams 
for  a  sermon  which  he  had  preached  to  the  General 
Assembly,  —  a  duty  regarded  as  more  important 
and  requiring  more  formality  than  would  obtain 
in  the  present  day,  if  the  good  old  custom  of  preach 
ing  election  sermons  were  still  in  existence.  Al 
though  the  adjustment  of  all  these  ecclesiastical 


44  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

matters  often  required  tact  as  well  as  a  knowledge 
of  theology,  such  matters  may  be  classed  to-day 
among  the  minor  duties  which  Trumbull  was  called 
upon  to  perform. 

In  the  same  class  may  be  placed  numerous  duties 
of  a  secular  nature  in  connection  with  the  financial 
and  legal  affairs  of  the  colony,  important  though 
such  affairs  were.  Among  such  duties  entrusted 
to  him  were  the  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  colony 
and  the  task  of  preparing  these  laws  for  publica 
tion.  He  was  first  appointed  on  a  committee  for 
the  purpose  in  May,  1742,  with  Roger  Wolcott  and 
Thomas  Fitch  as  associates.  The  revision  of  the 
laws  and  the  preparation  of  the  manuscript  for 
the  printer  appears  to  have  taken  seven  years; 
for  it  is  not  until  1749  that  a  special  act  of  the 
General  Assembly  empowers  Trumbull  to  buy  "three 
hundred  and  sixty-six  reams  of  proper  paper"  for 
printing  this  edition  of  the  revised  statutes  of  Con 
necticut,  for  which  purpose  £2200  old  tenor  is 
placed  in  his  hands,  forming  for  us  of  the  present 
time  a  problem  as  to  the  value  of  the  paper  and 
the  value  of  old  tenor  money  in  1749. 

One  of  the  devices  for  floating  the  new  tenor 
bills  of  credit  at  the  time  of  their  issue  was  to  loan 
such  portions  of  the  issue  as  were  not  needed  for 
immediate  use.  These  loans  were  made  to  free 
holders  in  the  colony  on  bond  and  mortgage,  and 
in  many  instances  it  became  necessary  to  foreclose 
the  mortgages.  Not  only  in  such  foreclosure  pro 
ceedings  was  Trumbull  made  the  agent  of  the 
colony,  but  as  early  as  May,  1743,  he  was  appointed 


PUBLIC  DUTIES  45 

on  a  committee  to  receive  and  deliver  to  the  Treas 
urer  "mortgages  not  released  for  the  first  emission 
of  loan  money,  and  to  adjust  loan  accounts  with  the 
Treasurer."  He  was  made  still  more  familiar  with 
the  details  of  the  colony's  finances  by  freauent 
appointments  on  committees  to  audit  the  Treas 
urer's  accounts.  After  much  experience  in  audit 
ing,  he  was  appointed  in  1754  on  a  committee 
"to  inquire  into  the  state  of  the  treasury,  and  en 
deavor  to  bring  the  Treasurer's  accounts  into  good 
form";  or,  in  other  words,  to  establish  a  new  and 
improved  system  of  bookkeeping  for  the  Treasurer. 
The  first  instance  which  the  records  show  of  a 
bill  drawn  and  presumably  introduced  by  Trum- 
bull  is  in  the  May  session  of  1743,  at  a  time  when 
France  had  already  secretly  joined  in  military 
operations  with  Spain,  and  was  soon  to  become  the 
open  enemy  of  England  by  formal  declaration  of 
war.  The  bill  is  entitled,  "An  Act  providing  Relief 
against  the  evil  and  dangerous  Designs  of  Foreig 
ners  and  Suspected  Persons."  After  reciting  the 
dangers  to  which  the  colony  is  exposed  from  strangers 
"endeavoring  to  sow  and  spread  false  and  dangerous 
doctrines  of  religion  among  us,  to  stir  up  discord 
among  the  people,  to  promote  seditious  designs 
against  the  government,  to  alienate  and  estrange 
the  minds  of  the  Indians  from  us,  or  to  spy  out  our 
country",  the  bill  goes  on  to  enact  that  all  suspected 
persons  may  be  brought  before  the  Governor, 
"and  such  other  of  the  civil  authority  as  his  Honor 
shall  think  proper  to  call  to  his  assistance",  who 
shall  examine  such  suspected  persons,  and  take 


46  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

such  measures  as  may  be  proper  to  prevent  the 
dangers  which  may  arise  from  them. 

This  measure  was  passed,  probably  as  the  result 
of  a  report  made  to  the  General  Assembly  by  James 
Wadsworth,  Elihu  Chauncey,  John  Ledyard  and 
Joseph  Blackleach,  who  had  heard  startling  rumors 
regarding  the  influence  which  certain  foreigners 
had  exercised  over  the  Indians,  estranging  them  from 
the  colonists.  The  mover  of  the  act  evidently  suc 
ceeded  in  making  it  broad  enough  to  cover  the  case 
of  the  Indians,  --  and  much  more. 

It  is  probable  that  many  other  measures  of  which 
he  was  the  originator  were  passed,  for  the  drafts 
of  reports  of  committees  of  which  he  was  a  member 
are  frequently  in  his  handwriting,  and  almost  in 
variably  include  a  bill  to  be  introduced  to  effect 
the  purposes  recommended  by  the  committee. 

It  appears  that  when  he  was  sojourning  in  Boston, 
Trumbull  did  not  forget  that  he  was  a  member  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  and  that  he 
was  in  honor  bound  to  recognize  service  to  his 
native  colony  in  the  neighboring  colony  of  Massa 
chusetts,  as  the  following  extract  from  the  General 
Assembly  of  Connecticut  in  1748  will  show. 

"This  Assembly  being  informed  that  Jonath. 
Trumble  Esqr,  being  in  Boston  when  one  Isaac 
Jones,  who  was  suspected  to  have  been  counter 
feiting  the  seven  shillings  bills  of  credit  on  this 
Colony,  was  seized  by  a  person  who  was  exposed  to 
great  danger  in  doing  the  same,  did  as  a  gratuity 
bestow  on  him  the  sum  of  eight  pounds  old  tenour, 
supposing  it  proper  to  be  done  for  the  honor  of  his 


PUBLIC  DUTIES  47 

government:  In  consideration  whereof,  the  Treas 
urer  of  this  Colony  is  hereby  ordered  and  directed 
to  pay  out  of  the  publick  treasury  the  aforesaid 
sum  of  eight  pounds  old  tenour  to  the  said  Jonathan 
Trumble  EsqV  ' 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible  to  draw  a  hard  and 
fast  line  in  his  long  membership  in  the  General 
Assembly  between  what  may  be  called  the  minor 
duties  and  the  important  duties  which  he  was 
called  upon  to  perform.  The  Indian  affairs  of  the 
time  were  more  or  less  perplexing,  and  gave  rise 
eventually  to  a  most  important  suit  known  as  the 
Mohegan  case,  which  remained  in  court  for  nearly 
seventy  years,  and  with  the  details  of  which  he 
became  thoroughly  familiar.  Encroachments  of  the 
reservations  at  Stonington  and  Groton  granted  to 
the  remnant  of  the  once  powerful  Pequot  tribe  of 
Indians  were  also  referred  to  him  in  1747,  1749  and 
1750. 

In  March,  1744,  war  was  formally  declared  be 
tween  England  and  France.  In  the  following  May, 
military  operations  were  rather  prematurely  begun 
in  America.  The  French  succeeded  in  capturing 
the  blockhouse  at  Canso  with  its  garrison  of  eighty 
men;  but  the  English,  with  reinforcements  from 
Boston,  succeeded  in  holding  the  more  important 
works  at  Annapolis. 

Early  in  the  following  year,  Connecticut  was 
invited  to  join  in  the  "mad  scheme"  of  Governor 
Shirley  of  Massachusetts  for  the  capture  of  Louis- 
burg,  the  so-called  Gibraltar  of  America,  by  an 
unaided  colonial  force.  At  the  extra  session  of  the 


48  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

General  Assembly  in  February,  1745,  Jonathan 
Trumbull  and  Elisha  Williams  were  appointed  to 
to  go  to  Boston,  to  meet  with  commissioners  from 
Massachusetts  and  other  colonies,  with  power  to 
arrange  the  details  and  preliminaries  for  the  expe 
dition  on  the  part  of  Connecticut.  They  proceeded 
with  all  convenient  speed,  and  returned  at  the  ex 
piration  of  nine  days,  for  which  service  they  were 
awarded  thirty  shillings  per  day,  old  tenor.  This 
was  doubtless  the  most  important  service  which 
Trumbull  had  performed  up  to  this  time.  Connec 
ticut,  with  her  usual  promptness,  had  already  pro 
vided  for  the  enlistment  of  five  hundred  men,  and 
for  the  despatch  of  the  colony's  sloop,  Defence; 
and  the  return  of  the  commissioners  from  Boston 
soon  resulted  in  the  embarkation  of  this  military 
and  naval  force,  giving  Connecticut  the  distinction 
of  being  one  of  the  three  colonies  which  contributed 
to  this  surprising  success  in  the  beginning  of  King 
George's  War. 

In  the  following  October,  Trumbull  was  again 
busied  in  this  affair  by  his  appointment  on  a  com 
mittee  to  ascertain  the  cost  to  Connecticut  of  this 
expedition,  for  reimbursement  by  the  Mother  Coun 
try;  which  reimbursement,  after  much  red  tape 
and  repeated  revisions  of  the  account,  was  made  four 
years  later.  The  award  was  confined  very  strictly 
to  the  actual  cost  in  money;  and  the  home  govern 
ment  appears  to  have  avoided  quite  scrupulously 
any  honorable  mention  of  the  service  performed 
by  Connecticut  men.  General  Pepperrell  was,  in 
deed,  made  a  baronet,  and  Governor  Shirley  was 


CAPTURE  OF  LOUISBURG  49 

granted  a  commission;  but  General  Roger  Wolcott 
of  Connecticut,  who  was  second  in  command,  was 
ignored.  The  humble  petition  of  the  colony  for 
a  share  in  the  prize  money  resulting  from  the  ex 
pedition  was  also  ignored;  and  Trumbull,  wh#  had 
an  active  share  in  preparing  the  accounts  and  the 
petition,  saw  the  services  of  his  colony  treated  with 
such  parsimony  that  at  the  time  he  may  have 
caught  his  first  impressions  of  the  mistaken  colonial 
policy  of  Great  Britain. 

From  the  time  of  the  capture  of  Louisburg  in 
1745,  to  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
in  1748,  Connecticut  contributed  her  full  quota - 
and  more  —  for  the  projected  but  abortive  expedi 
tions  against  Quebec  and  Crown  Point,  losing  many 
men  by  sickness,  if  not  by  the  bullets  of  the  enemy. 
The  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  found  this  colony,  in 
common  with  the  others,  suffering  more  than  her 
full  share  of  the  effects  of  the  war.  The  drain  upon 
her  resources  of  all  kinds  had  been  serious.  The 
young  men  who  had  gone  to  the  front,  many  of 
them  never  to  return,  could  ill  be  spared  in  such  a 
colony  as  Connecticut  was  at  this  time;  the  treas 
ury,  too,  was  depleted,  and  instead  of  the  progress 
which  might  have  been  made  in  peaceful  times,  the 
colony  showed  little  or  no  advance  in  population 
and  worse  than  no  advance  in  every  other  respect. 
The  peace  was  a  nominal  peace  only,  and  sur 
rendered  all  the  advantages  which  had  been  gained 
on  this  continent  by  handing  back  to  France  the 
stronghold  of  Louisburg  which  Massachusetts,  Con 
necticut  and  New  Hampshire  had  captured  in  the 


50  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

masterstroke  of  the  war,  and  leaving  the  boundaries 
of  the  English  and  French  in  America  as  indefinite 
as  they  had  been  before  the  war. 

Even  before  this  nominal  and  ineffective  peace, 
Connecticut  had  on  her  hands  a  boundary  dispute 
with  her  neighbor  Massachusetts,  in  which  Trum- 
bull  bore  the  part  of  leading  commissioner  for  his 
own  colony  by  four  different  appointments  extend 
ing  over  three  years.  It  was  the  most  important 
of  the  many  boundary  disputes  of  its  kind,  and 
afforded  to  the  leading  commissioner  another  rare 
opportunity  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  charter 
rights  of  Connecticut,  and  to  gain  experience  in 
negotiations  of  the  greatest  interest  to  his  colony. 
The  story  of  the  dispute  is,  briefly,  as  follows : 

In  1713,  the  towns  of  Woodstock,  Enfield,  Suffield 
and  Somers  had  been  transferred  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  Massachusetts,  through  a  mistaken  belief  that 
they  lay  within  the  bounds  of  that  colony,  or  might 
be  taken  by  it  as  a  final  compromise  of  its  claim. 
A  very  inadequate  compensation  was  made  to 
Connecticut  at  the  time  by  the  grant  of  certain  un 
settled  lands  in  Massachusetts  which  were  finally 
sold  for  the  benefit  of  Yale  College  for  a  sum  equal 
to  about  $2500.  These  four  towns  had  been  so 
transferred  without  their  consent  and  without  royal 
confirmation  of  the  transaction.  After  bearing  the 
taxes  and  ecclesiastical  control  of  Massachusetts 
for  thirty-four  years,  they  had  recourse  to  the 
arbiter  of  political  affairs,  the  town  meeting;  and 
addressed  a  petition  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut  in  May,  1747,  for  relief  through  a 


MASSACHUSETTS  BOUNDARY          51 

joint  commission  or  otherwise  to  determine  their 
location  by  charter  rights,  which,  as  they  justly 
claimed,  placed  them  within  the  jurisdiction  of  their 
original  colony.  Jonathan  Trumbull,  John  Bulkley, 
Colonel  Benjamin  Hall  and  Captain  Roger  Wolcott 
were  appointed  "Commissioners  to  meet  and  confer 
with  such  as  may  be  appointed  by  the  Province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay,  at  such  time  and  place  as 
shall  be  agreed  on  between  them,  to  hear,  consider, 
and  report  to  the  next  Assembly  after  said  meeting 
and  conference,  their  opinion  on  what  shall  be 
offered  in  this  affair  by  the  Commissioners  of  said 
Province  and  the  inhabitants  of  said  towns." 

That  these  commissioners  had  no  difficulty  in 
hearing  what  was  "offered  in  this  affair"  by  the 
said  towns  appears  certain.  That  they  were  equally 
successful  with  commissioners  of  Massachusetts  does 
not  appear;  for  at  the  October  session  of  1747,  it 
is  recorded  that  Woodstock,  Enfield,  Suffield  and 
Somers  preferred  another  petition  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  Connecticut,  which  recites  that  they 
had  also  petitioned  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
Massachusetts  for  relief,  and  had  found  none.  Trum 
bull  is  again  appointed  at  the  head  of  a  commission 
to  confer  with  Massachusetts  and  undertake  a  peace 
able  settlement  of  the  vexed  question.  The  matter 
drags  along  until  May,  1749,  when  he  is  once  more 
instructed  to  attempt  similar  negotiations,  and  this 
time  provision  is  made  for  submitting  the  question 
to  his  Majesty  in  case  nothing  can  be  done  with 
Massachusetts,  a  course  hitherto  avoided,  through 
fear  of  its  consequences,  which  fear  had  led  to  the 


52  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

unfortunate  compromise  of  1713.  But,  in  order  to 
cut  the  Gordian  knot  and  strengthen  the  hands  of 
the-  commissioners,  it  is  enacted  at  the  same  time 
that  these  four  towns  are  within  the  charter  limits 
of  Connecticut,  the  old  agreement  of  1713  being 
null  and  void  for  this  reason. 

Once  more,  in  October,  1750,  he  was  appointed 
to  attempt  an  amicable  adjustment,  Massachusetts 
being  then  more  approachable;  but  nothing  could 
be  done,  and  after  continuing  the  controversy  with 
increasing  feebleness  and  at  longer  intervals,  Mass 
achusetts  appears  to  have  dropped  it  in  1804.  Her 
claim  was  founded  on  an  old  ex  parte  survey  made 
by  Woodward  and  Saffrey  in  1642;  one  of  the 
results  of  which  is  the  possession  by  Massachu 
setts  of  the  present  city  of  Springfield  which  once 
belonged  to  Connecticut.  An  ugly  notch  in  the 
northern  boundary  of  Connecticut  still  remains  a 
monument  to  the  surveyors  of  1642. 

In  October,  1755,  the  foothold  of  the  English 
in  Nova  Scotia,  after  much  border  skirmishing  and 
many  attempts  to  gain  the  allegiance  of  the  Acadians 
to  British  rule,  had  been  effected  by  the  crushing 
decree  of  exile  proclaimed  at  Grand  Pre  in  the 
September  previous,  by  which  seven  thousand  of 
these  unfortunates  were  scattered  among  strangers 
in  a  strange  land.  In  the  previous  July,  Braddock's 
disastrous  defeat  had  occurred,  compensated  in  a 
measure  by  Lyman's  brilliant  victory  at  Lake 
George,  for  which,  as  we  have  seen,  General  John 
son  was  made  Sir  William.  Once  more  the  "dogs 
of  war"  were  let  loose,  although  the  ceremony  of 


IMPORTANT  CONFERENCES  53 

letting  them  loose  was  not  proclaimed  until  the 
following  year.  The  Albany  Congress  had  failed  — 
Connecticut  assisting  effectively  in  the  failure  to 
unite  the  colonies  under  a  central  government; 
but  Connecticut  was  none  the  less  willing  toAmite 
in  a  common  cause  with  the  colonies  for  defense 
against  the  common  enemy.  For  this  purpose,  in 
October,  1755,  the  General  Assembly  appointed 
"Ebenezer  Silliman  and  Jonathan  Trumbull  for 
and  on  the  behalf  of  this  Colony  to  meet  with  such 
Commissioners  as  shall  be  appointed  by  his  Ma 
jesty's  other  government  ...  to  consider  and 
represent  the  general  state  and  circumstances  of  his 
Majesty's  Colonies,  the  encroachments  of  the  French, 
and  the  various  transactions  and  operations  hitherto, 
and  to  consult  the  proper  measures  to  be  taken 
for  the  general  interest  of  the  common  cause,  for 
his  Majesty's  service." 

Governor  Fitch  accompanied  the  two  commis 
sioners  to  this  conference,  which  was  held  in  New 
York  in  the  following  December,  and  resulted  in 
adopting  a  plan  of  operations  for  the  coming  year 
practically  the  same  as  that  of  the  year  then  closing. 
It  is  interesting  to  know  that  at  this  time  Con 
necticut  had  in  active  service  in  the  field  3975  men, 
as  we  learn  from  public  records  signed  by  Trum 
bull,  and  that  3075  of  these  men  were  in  the  pay  of 
the  colony. 

From  this  time  forward,  he  was  continually 
appointed  on  commissions  in  connection  with  war 
measures.  In  January,  1756,  with  General  Phineas 
Lyman  he  went  to  Boston  to  arrange,  if  possible, 


54  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

that  Connecticut  troops  for  the  winter  campaign 
be  paid  by  the  Crown.  In  the  following  January 
we  .find  him  on  a  commission  with  the  Governor 
and  others  to  confer  with  the  incompetent  Earl  of 
Loudoun  regarding  the  coming  campaign;  again 
in  October  to  confer  with  commissioners  from  other 
colonies  on  war  measures,  and  again  in  March, 
1758,  on  a  similar  commission  held  at  Hartford. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE     CASE     OF    THE     SPANISH    TREASURE     SHIP DE 
CLINES      APPOINTMENT      AS      AGENT      TO      LONDON  — 
FAMILY   AND    HOME    AFFAIRS 

THE  foregoing  examples  of  the  duties  which 
Trumbull  performed  are  by  no  means  an 
enumeration  of  all  that  were  assigned  to 
him  up  to  1758.  With  one  exception  they  must  serve 
to  show  the  nature  and  variety  of  those  duties:  that 
exception  is  the  case  of  the  Spanish  snow  San  Jose 
y  Santa  Elena,  a  vessel  which,  after  springing  a 
leak  at  sea,  put  in  at  New  London  in  distress,  on 
November  26,  1752,  suffering  further  damage  by 
striking  on  a  reef  just  before  reaching  the  harbor. 
Thirty-seven  chests  of  Spanish  dollars  and  three 
chests  of  Spanish  gold  coins,  mostly  "doubleloons", 
as  a  contemporary  account  calls  them,  were  landed 
on  the  Sunday  of  the  accident,  and  placed  in  Colonel 
Gurdon  Saltonstall's  cellar.  The  vessel  being  de 
clared  unseaworthy,  the  entire  cargo,  in  which  in 
digo  appears  to  be  the  most  notable  commodity, 
was  landed  soon  afterwards,  in  charge  of  Mr.  Hull, 
His  Majesty's  Collector  of  Customs.  A  conflict 
of  authority  between  Mr.  Hull,  acting  under  the 
orders  of  a  court  of  admiralty,  and  Colonel  Salton- 
stall,  acting  under  the  orders  of  the  Governor, 
occurred  a  month  later,  in  which  the  constable  had 
some  difficulty  in  preventing  bloodshed  between 
the  armed  forces  of  each  party. 

55 


56  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

The  ship  Nebuchadnezzar  was  chartered  by  the 
supercargo,  Don  Jose  Miguel  de  San  Juan,  to  trans 
port  the  cargo  and  treasure  to  Cadiz,  and  duly 
appeared  at  New  London  in  April,  1753,  for  that 
purpose.  Upon  beginning  to  reload  the  cargo, 
it  was  found  that  it  had  been  tampered  with,  and 
that  some  of  the  treasure  and  some  of  the  indigo 
were  missing.  Don  Jose  Miguel  de  San  Juan  there 
upon  refused  to  receive  any  more  of  the  cargo, 
and  in  the  following  October  presented  a  petition 
to  the  General  Assembly  praying  for  relief,  and 
requesting  that  the  portion  of  the  cargo  already 
loaded  be  relanded  and  placed  in  the  custody  of 
Collector  Hull.  This  petition  was  not  granted,  the 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  having  no  juris 
diction  over  His  Majesty's  Collector  of  Customs; 
and  the  affair  dragged  along  another  year,  by  which 
time  it  had  begun  to  assume  international  impor 
tance.  It  was  finally  arranged  that  Jonathan 
Trumbull  and  Roger  Wolcott,  Junior,  should  go  to 
New  London  by  appointment  of  the  Governor, 
supervise  the  reshipment  of  the  cargo  and  treasure, 
gather  all  the  evidence  and  adjust  the  matter  as 
well  as  possible.  Accordingly,  two  years  after  the 
landing  of  the  cargo,  these  two  commissioners  went 
to  New  London,  for  this  purpose. 

This  matter  had  now  become  still  more  com 
plicated  by  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  seven 
of  the  suspected  thieves,  who  were  indicted  on  the 
evidence  of  one  of  their  number,  and  who  escaped 
from  jail  within  a  month  after  their  imprisonment, 
from  which  time  history  is  silent  regarding  them. 


THE  SPANISH   TREASURE  SHIP       57 

The  duties  of  commissioners  Trumbull  and  Wol- 
cott  in  this  affair  consumed  a  full  month,  begin 
ning  on  December  3,  1754,  and  ending  on  the 
eighth  of  the  following  January.  They  attended 
scrupulously  to  the  shipping  of  the  cargo  and  tr^as- 
ure,  consulted  with  the  King's  counsel  in  the  affair, 
collected  evidence,  and  after  much  diplomacy  suc 
ceeded  in  mollifying  Don  Jose  Miguel  de  San  Juan, 
as  well  as  Captain  Whitnell  of  the  British  man-of-war 
Triton  which  was  to  act  as  a  convoy  to  the  Neb 
uchadnezzar.  The  conduct  of  the  former  gentleman 
is  mentioned  in  the  report  of  the  commissioners  as 
"in  many  respects  very  strange  and  extraordinary", 
and  the  latter  is  mentioned  in  Trumbuirs  diary  as 
"dissatisfied  with  the  treatment  he  had  received", 
although  "after  some  conversation  he  seemed  more 
easy",  and  invited  the  commissioners  to  dine  with 
him  on  the  following  day  on  board  the  Triton. 

Two  reports  of  the  doings  of  the  commissioners, 
the  evidence  collected,  and  the  history  of  the  affair 
were  submitted  to  the  General  Assembly,  showing 
quite  plainly  that  the  colony  was  in  no  way  liable 
for  the  losses  incurred.  These  reports  were  trans 
mitted  to  the  home  government  which  had  become 
quite  concerned  regarding  the  international  bear 
ings  of  the  affair;  and  it  is  not  until  May,  1756, 
that  we  find  the  last  mention  of  it  in  official 
correspondence;  and  even  two  years  later,  Jared 
Ingersoll,  agent  of  Connecticut  at  London,  was 
specifically  instructed  to  represent  the  matter  in  a 
favorable  light,  if  occasion  should  require.  In  home 
politics,  too,  it  had  its  effect,  being  used  as  polit- 


58  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

ical  capital  by  the  opponents  of  Governor  Wolcott, 
on  the  ground  that  during  his  administration  he 
had  not  proceeded  with  due  promptness  and  vigilance 
in  the  matter. 

Although  we  are  mainly  concerned  with  the 
manifold  public  duties  which  Trumbull  per 
formed  by  appointment,  we  shall  hardly  learn  the 
full  trust  and  confidence  which  was  reposed  in  him 
unless  brief  mention  is  made  of  one  appointment 
by  the  General  Assembly  which,  though  twice 
offered  him  within  two  years,  he  declined  to  accept. 
This  was  his  appointment  as  agent  at  London  for 
Connecticut,  and  is  believed  to  be  the  only  in 
stance  of  a  public  duty  which  he  declined  to  per 
form.  The  first  appointment  was  in  March,  1756, 
at  which  time  his  father  had  been  dead  less  than  a 
year,  his  mother  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy- 
three,  and  his  oldest  son  was  but  nineteen  years 
of  age.  In  his  letter  declining  the  appointment, 
he  says: 

"I  have  carefully  weighed  the  matter,  and  ac 
knowledge  my  obligations  in  gratitude  to  serve 
my  country  in  whatever  lies  in  my  power,  consi 
dering  every  relative  duty;  and  as  nothing  but  a 
sense  of  such  obligation  to  duty  would  be  any  in 
ducement  for  me  to  undertake  that  important  and 
arduous  trust,  so  a  sense  of  my  own  insufficiency 
for  that  service  pleads  my  excuse;  and  when  I 
consider  the  duties  I  owe  to  my  aged  mother,  whose 
dependence  is  greatly  upon  me,  and  all  the  circum 
stances  of  the  case,  I  think  I  may  conclude  that  I 
am  not  negligent  or  undutiful  when  I  decline  the 


DECLINES  LONDON  AGENCY     59 

service,  and  desire  the  Honble  Assembly  to  turn  their 
thoughts  on  some  other  person." 

Upon  his  second  appointment,  in  May,  1758,  he 
declines  in  the  following  words : 

"On  serious  and  mature  consideration  —  that 
I  have  not  had  the  small  pox  —  that  my  peculiar 
bodily  difficulties  render  my  taking  it  especially 
dangerous,  and  that  it  is  at  all  times  frequent  in 
London  —  the  circumstances  of  my  family  —  I  think 
it  fit  and  reasonable  not  to  accept  and  undertake 
the  important  Trust  of  an  Agent  for  this  Colony 
at  the  Court  of  Great  Britain,  unto  which,  at  this 
time,  you  have  done  me  the  honor  of  an  appoint 
ment.  With  a  grateful  sense  of  this  further  ex 
pression  of  your  confidence,  which  I  hope  never  to 
forfeit,  and  an  humble  reliance  on  your  Candor  and 
excuse,  I  shall  ever  pray  for  the  Blessing  and  Direc 
tion  of  the  Almighty  and  all-wise  God  in  your 
Counsels." 

Jared  Ingersoll,  of  whom  we  hear  further  in 
Stamp  Act  times,  was  appointed  in  his  stead,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Governor  Fitch,  who  had 
some  years  before  declined  a  similar  appointment, 
understood  and  appreciated  Trumbuirs  motives 
and  reasons  for  declining  much  better  than  we, 
from  a  twentieth  century  point  of  view,  can  under 
stand  them. 

Trumbuirs  father  died  on  June  16,  1755,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-seven.  For  some  time  previous  to 
his  death  he  appears  to  have  retired  from  mercantile 
business,  having  probably  disposed  of  his  vested 
interest  in  the  business  to  his  son,  who  appears  to 


60  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

have  been  successful  to  such  an  extent  that,  eigh 
teen  years  before  his  father's  death,  we  find  him 
conveying  to  his  father-in-law  land  in  Lebanon 
to  the  value  of  £1500.  This  was  in  1737;  and  in 
1741  he  appears  in  business  transactions  as  "Jona 
than  Trumble,  trader." 

At  the  death  of  his  father  he  inherited,  subject 
to  his  mother's  life  interest,  the  family  homestead, 
a  lot  of  land  on  "Hog  Plain",  and  twenty-two 
acres  "in  the  rear  of  Dr.  Williams'  land",  together 
with  the  personal  property  remaining  after  one 
third  had  been  given  to  his  mother.  The  value  of 
this  personal  property  which  fell  to  his  share  was 
£924.13.6  old  tenor,  or  £771.1.2  "lawful  money", 
which  will  give  us  some  idea  of  the  values  of  the 
day.  In  addition  to  this  property,  he  also  inherited 
under  his  father's  will  a  share  in  a  mill  on  Pease's 
Brook. 

In  1756  the  family  had  reached  its  maximum, 
and  consisted  of  Trumbull,  his  wife  and  aged  mother; 
the  eldest  son  Joseph,  who  graduated  from  Har 
vard  College  in  that  year;  his  brother  Jonathan, 
a  sophomore  in  the  same  college;  his  sister  Faith, 
a  girl  of  thirteen;  Mary,  a  girl  of  eleven;  David, 
a  boy  of  four,  and  John,  a  baby  born  in  June  of 
that  year. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  under  the  system 
of  registration  according  to  social  rank  which  still 
prevailed  at  Harvard,  the  sons  far  outstripped  the 
father,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  stood  very  near  the 
bottom  of  the  list  in  1727.  Less  than  thirty  years 
gave  the  son  Joseph  the  rank  of  second  in  1756; 


FAMILY  AFFAIRS  61 

and  two  years  later,  the  son  Jonathan  had  at 
tained  the  giddy  social  height  of  first  in  his  class. 
How  far  this  promotion  of  the  sons  above  the  father 
was  a  recognition  of  his  own  attainments  and 
public  position  since  his  graduation  it  is  impossible 
to  say.  It  is,  however,  natural  to  suppose  that 
Harvard  watched  the  progress  of  her  small  family 
of  sons  quite  closely  at  this  time,  and  stood  ready  to 
grant  to  Trumbull's  sons  the  fickle  smiles  of  social 
honor  which  had  been  denied  to  the  father  who 
thirty  years  before  had  probably  been  regarded  as 
a  country  bumpkin  from  a  little  Connecticut  town. 

The  son  David  was  not  to  share  in  the  honors 
which  Harvard  had  to  bestow  some  ten  years 
later,  as  his  father  was  unable  to  send  him,  but 
he  was,  no  doubt,  fully  prepared  for  the  college 
course  at  Nathan  Tisdale's  excellent  school. 
When  he  had  reached  this  age,  the  family  for 
tunes  were  at  their  lowest  ebb,  and  bankruptcy 
was  staring  his  father  grimly  in  the  face,  so 
that  the  lad  David  must  needs  put  his  young 
hands  to  the  plow  or  the  pen,  and  become,  as 
he  long  continued  to  be,  his  father's  right-hand 
man. 

This  school  of  Master  Nathan  Tisdale's  of  Leb 
anon  was  one  which  the  father  had  been  active 
in  founding  in  1743,  and  had  gained  a  reputation 
second  to  none  in  New  England,  "unless",  as 
Colonel  John  Trumbull  remarks,  "that  of  Master 
Moody  in  Newburyport,  might,  in  the  judgment 
of  some,  have  the  precedence."  l 

1  Colonel  John  Trumbull's  "Autobiography,  Reminiscences  and  Letters." 


62  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

The  Indian  school  founded  in  Lebanon  by  the 
Reverend  Eleazer  Wheelock  was  in  these  days  an 
institution  in  which  Trumbull  was  interested,  as 
we  learn  from  his  correspondence,  and  from  the 
fact  that  in  1763  he  was  placed  by  the  General 
Assembly  on  a  committee  authorized  to  draw  on  the 
Treasurer  for  the  support  of  this  school.  Samson 
Occum,  as  is  well  known,  was  the  most  striking 
figure  in  the  early  history  and  the  development  of 
the  school,  which,  through  the  aid  and  support 
of  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  at  last  became  Dart 
mouth  College  in  New  Hampshire. 

Another  Lebanon  enterprise  which  engaged  Trum- 
bull's  attention  at  this  time  was  the  establishing  of 
a  "Fair  and  Markett  to  be  put  up  and  kept  in  the 
Town,  at  proper  Times,  with  ye  Privileges  and  under 
such  convenient  and  suitable  Regulations  agreeable 
thereto."  1  For  this  purpose  he  was  appointed  by 
vote  of  a  town  meeting  of  Lebanon  to  apply  to 
the  General  Assembly  in  1763. 

Among  his  papers  a  draft  of  a  bill  which  he  pre 
sumably  introduced  for  this  purpose  is  to  be  found, 
but  the  records  are  silent  regarding  legislative  ac 
tion  in  the  matter,  so  that  we  must  take  Trum- 
bull's  biographer  as  our  authority  for  the  state 
ment,  supported  probably  by  tradition,  that  such 
fairs  and  markets  were  established  through  his  inter 
vention,  to  the  no  small  benefit  of  the  town.  It 
seems  quite  probable  that  no  legislation  was  found 
to  be  needed,  and  that  nothing  in  the  laws  of  the 

1  Copy  of  vote  attested  by  William  Williams,  Town  Clerk.  In  ms.  col 
lections  of  the  Conn.  Historical  Society. 


HOME  AFFAIRS  63 

colony  at  the  time  prevented  the  town  from  under 
taking  this  enterprise  without  special  legislation. 

That  Trumbull's  interest  in  his  native  town  was 
most  active  at  all  times  appears  from  various  sources. 
In  the  early  days  of  his  public  life  he  was  one  of 
the  selectmen,  and  in  later  days  we  find  him  fre 
quently  called  upon  to  exercise  his  functions  as 
magistrate  in  various  matters,  such  as  licensing  a 
house  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  inoculating 
a  number  of  persons  at  a  time,  by  the  methods  of 
the  day  for  the  prevention  of  smallpox.  His  sons, 
too,  were  active  in  the  local  affairs  of  Lebanon,  and 
held  various  offices,  David  especially  having  been 
a  "lister",  constable  and  surveyor  of  highways. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MERCANTILE     AFFAIRS  SON    JOSEPH     IN     LONDON 

DIFFICULTIES         THERE  NEW         FIRM CONTINUED 

DIFFICULTIES  —  MERCANTILE    FAILURE 

IN  1760  Trumbull  had  reached  the  age  of  fifty, 
having  occupied  for  many  years  the  positions 
of  Assistant  in  the  General  Assembly,  Judge 
of  the  County  Court,  and  Judge  of  Probate.  His 
home  interests  had,  as  we  have  seen,  grown  on  his 
hands,  the  mercantile  business  in  which  he  was 
engaged  having  expanded  both  in  home  and  foreign 
commerce.  In  Boston  particularly  we  find  him 
dealing  with  the  firms  of  Bowdoin,  Pitts  and  Flucker, 
Benjamin  Dolbeare,  Henry  Johnson,  Green  and 
Walker  and  others,  all  of  whom  reposed  such  con 
fidence  in  him  that  they  left  the  affairs  of  an  insol 
vent  debtor  in  Lebanon  in  his  hands  for  settlement 
on  their  account  unreservedly,  at  an  earlier  date. 
In  London,  his  dealings  with  Samuel  Sparrow  had 
been  large;  but  at  the  time  we  are  now  considering 
his  principal  London  connection  was  with  the  firm 
of  Booth  and  Lane.  His  connections  with  Ireland, 
the  West  Indies  and  other  points  were  also  worth 
mentioning. 

His  first  regularly  established  firm  bore  the  name 
of  Williams,  Trumble  and  Pitkin,  beginning  about 
the  year  1750  and  continuing  under  this  style  for 
nearly  fifteen  years,  after  which  a  new  partnership 
was  formed  under  the  name  of  Trumble,  Fitch  and 

64 


MERCANTILE  AFFAIRS  65 

Trumble,  the  two  junior  members  being  Eleazer 
Fitch  and  TrumbuH's  eldest  son,  Joseph,  who  was, 
at  the  time  of  forming  this  new  firm,  in  London 
attempting  to  promote  his  father's  business  enter 
prises.  This  firm  appears  to  have  continued,  to 
struggle  against  obstacles  and  difficulties  during  the 
short  period  of  its  existence  which  ended  in  1767. 

As  early  as  in  1762,  we  find  Trumbull's  Boston 
creditors  pressing  for  the  payment  of  money  due 
on  book  account  and  other  obligations,  which  it 
seemed  impossible  for  him  to  meet  at  the  time, 
owing  to  his  large  holdings  of  real  estate,  and  the 
large  amounts  due  him  from  various  sources  which 
he  was  unable  to  collect.  Among  his  correspondence, 
too,  we  find  many  begging  letters  from  his  unfor 
tunate  friends  and  acquaintances  and  many  ac 
knowledgments  of  favors  which  he  appears  to  have 
granted  in  response  to  their  appeals.  Financially 
the  times  were  out  of  joint,  for  it  was  a  time  of 
contraction  of  the  currency,  —  if  it  could  be  called 
a  currency;  a  transformation  from  old  tenor  values 
of  about  sixty  shillings  to  the  ounce  of  silver  to 
new  tenor  values  of  about  eight  shillings,  Under 
the  system,  or  more  properly  custom,  of  long  credits 
of  the  time,  much  of  the  money  due  Trumbull  was 
doubtless  in  old  tenor,  and  much  that  he  owed  was 
in  new  tenor.  Thus,  no  doubt,  the  value  of  prop 
erty,1  owned  by  him  in  the  heyday  of  his  pros 
perity  is  not  overstated  by  his  biographer  Stuart, 
if  it  be  possible  to  reach  such  a  thing  as  accurate 
values  in  such  times  of  variation  and  fluctuation. 

1  £18,000.    Stuart's  "Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull",  p.  73. 


66  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

During  the  war,  in  1761,  he  had  entered  into 
some  large  contracts  for  supplying  the  troops  of 
Connecticut  with  clothing  and  provisions.  In  this 
undertaking  he  associated  with  himself  Hezekiah 
Huntington  of  Norwich,  John  Ledyard  of  Hartford, 
Eleazer  Fitch  of  Windham,  who  afterwards  became 
Trumbuirs  partner,  and  William  Williams  of  Le 
banon,  who  afterwards  became  his  son-in-law. 

Owing  to  the  state  of  trade  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  the  difficulties  in  foreign  exchanges,  the  profits 
of  the  transaction  proved  to  be  small,  especially 
when  divided  among  the  five  sharers. 

The  peace  of  Paris  in  1763  brought  hopes  of  a 
renewal  of  prosperity  to  the  American  colonists; 
a  renewal  sadly  needed  after  the  almost  continual 
strain  and  drain  of  war  for  nearly  twenty  years. 
Early  in  this  year,  taking  advantage  of  these 
promising  conditions,  the  oldest  son,  Joseph,  was 
sent  to  London  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the  busi 
ness  of  the  firm  in  the  Mother  Country.  This  was 
a  notable  event  in  the  history  of  the  business  in 
which  his  father  was  engaged,  and,  of  course,  a 
notable  event  in  the  personal  history  of  this  son, 
now  twenty-six  years  old.  After  his  arrival  in 
London  his  correspondence  with  his  father  was  quite 
voluminous,  and  being  addressed  personally,  leaves 
the  inference  that  just  at  this  time  the  father  was 
transacting  business  on  his  sole  account,  and  that 
the  firm  of  Williams,  Trumble  and  Pitkin  had  been 
dissolved.  At  all  events,  as  early  as  in  November, 
1763,  Joseph  makes  mention  of  his  father's  proposed 
partnership  with  "Colonel  [Eleazer]  Fitch." 


SON  JOSEPH  IN  LONDON  67 

Young  Trumbull's  business  mission  to  England 
was  beset  with  many  difficulties,  the  principal  of 
which  appears  to  have  been  the  refusal  of  the  old 
correspondents  of  the  house  to  grant  further  credit 
for  goods  to  be  bought  by  the  son.  We  soon  ^find 
him  writing  to  his  father  urging  him  to  borrow 
money  at  home  for  remittance  to  London.  There 
appears  to  have  been  a  contract  of  some  kind  at 
Marblehead,  Massachusetts,  for  the  shipment  to 
London  of  goods  of  considerable  value,  which  would 
assist  materially  in  establishing  the  credit  of  Trum- 
bull  in  that  city,  but  on  January  10,  1764,  young 
Trumbull  writes  regarding  this  to  his  father : 

"I  received  a  letter  from  my  Bro.  giving  me  the 
disagreeable  news  of  the  Failure  of  the  Contract 
at  Marblehead  which  has  entirely  destroyed  all 
my  Schemes  and  Prospects  of  sending  you  any 
Goods  this  spring.  Mess"  Booth  &  Lane  have 
refusM  to  furnish  me  with  any  Goods,  &  alledge 
for  Reason  that  as  their  Partnership  is  almost  out 
they  are  determined  to  bring  their  Affairs  and 
Connections  into  as  close  a  Compass  as  possible. 

...  This  I  look  on  only  as  an  excuse  to  put 
me  off,  as  I  know  they  have  engaged  with  Mr. 
Russell  largely." 

Going  on  to  speak  of  the  impossibility  of  arrang 
ing  a  credit  with  any  other  house  on  account  of  the 
failure  of  the  Marblehead  contract,  he  adds : 

"By  the  foregoing  you  will  see  that  I  must  be 
in  a  very  uneasy  situation  here  —  a  Young  Man  in 
character  of  a  Merchant  in  company  with  many  of 
my  countrymen  all  shipping  goods,  and  not  able 


68  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

to  do  anything  but  look  on,  an  idle  Spectator,  and 
like  by  and  by  to  return  home  and  have  it  said, 
hue  has  been  to  England  to  make  acquaintances  and 
connections,  but  was  in  so  bad  credit  no  one  would 
make  any  engagements  with  him/' 

"My  Bro.  says  in  his  letter  that  you  are  deter 
mined  to  collect  your  old  Debts  &c.  —  Indeed  I 
think  it  high  time  for  us  to  take  care  of  ourselves 
rather  than  our  Friends,  by  whom  it  seems  we  are 
brought  to  a  very  low  ebb/' 

This  is,  indeed,  a  rather  pathetic  situation  for  a 
young  man  going  to  London  in  1763  with  high  hopes 
of  success  in  establishing  new  and  profitable  busi 
ness.  There  is  no  doubt,  too,  from  what  he  writes, 
that  colonial  merchants  without  cash  in  hand  were, 
at  this  time,  usually  accorded  a  cold  reception  by 
British  merchants,  who  viewed  the  financial  and 
political  situation  and  business  customs  of  the  col 
onists  with  much  suspicion.  But  the  young  Leb 
anon  merchant  did  not  relax  his  efforts.  He  had, 
certainly,  a  good  friend  and  counsellor  in  Rich 
ard  Jackson,  resident  agent  for  Connecticut  in 
England.  And  Joseph,  too,  though  sadly  harassed 
by  the  difficulties  which  he  encountered,  persis 
tently  kept  up  his  efforts  and  manfully  struggled 
on,  until  we  find  him,  a  month  after  the  letter  just 
quoted,  writing  that  he  had  made  some  arrange 
ments  at  Bristol  with  Stephen  Apthorp  for  goods. 
He  engages,  too,  with  Edward  Dixon  of  St.  Kitts, 
to  build  in  Connecticut  a  sloop  of  sixty  tons  for  the 
West  India  trade,  of  which  sloop  Dixon  is  to  own 
one  third.  A  snow  is  also  to  be  built  for  the  Irish 


RETURN  OF  HIS  SON  69 

trade,  and  by  means  of  these  and  other  vessels 
and  the  trade  in  which  they  are  to  engage,  funds 
will  be  provided  to  meet  obligations  in  London. 
Then,  too,  the  Governor  of  Grenada,  West  Indies, 
makes  young  Trumbull's  acquaintance,  and  a  proj 
ect  is  formed  for  framing  and  collecting  materials 
for  a  government  hospital  at  that  island.1 

All  through  this  time,  the  proceedings  of  Parlia 
ment  were  carefully  watched  and  reported  to  his 
father  by  the  young  merchant;  for  on  these  pro 
ceedings  depended  much  of  the  mercantile  interest 
of  the  colonies.  Nor  did  he  fail  to  see  the  sights 
of  London  and  its  vicinity,  including  the  king  and 
queen.  Among  other  things,  he  busied  himself  at 
the  herald's  office,  where  his  researches  led  him  to 
adopt  the  present  spelling  of  his  surname,  which 
was  also  adopted  by  his  father  soon  after  the  son's 
return. 

In  the  fall  of  1764,  the  son  returns,  having  been 
absent  for  about  a  year,  and  having,  in  the  face 
of  many  difficulties,  succeeded  in  purchasing  goods 
from  Champion  and  Haley  to  the  value  of  about 
£1200  on  nine  months'  credit,  and  of  Stephen  Ap- 
thorp  to  the  value  of  about  £1000,  on  six  months' 
credit,  besides  which  arrangements  had  been  made 
for  other  business  both  in  Ireland  and  England,  the 
West  Indies  and  elsewhere. 

On  his  return  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Norwich, 
where,  no  doubt,  he  superintended  the  building  and 

xOn  May  25,  1764,  he  writes:  "The  disappointment  I  have  met  with  from 
Mr.  Lane  has  not  discouraged  or  disheartened  me,  but  rather  served  to  en 
courage  me,  and  at  the  same  time  make  me  cautious." 


70  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

fitting  out  of  the  sloop  in  which  Edward  Dixon  of 
St.  Kitts  was  to  have  an  interest,  and  the  building 
of  the  snow  for  the  Irish  trade. 

Within  two  years  from  the  time  of  Joseph  Trum- 
bulPs  return,  matters  have  an  ominous  look  in  the 
business  of  Trumbull,  Fitch  and  Trumbull.  The 
Stamp  Act  disturbances  of  1765  had,  of  course, 
unsettled  business  in  the  colonies.  Collections, 
especially  of  such  debts  as  were  due  the  firm  and  its 
individual  members,  were  difficult,  and  in  many 
cases  impossible.  It  appears  that  in  1766  the  firm 
was  in  liquidation,  if  not  regularly  dissolved,  for 
on  October  6th  of  that  year  we  find  young  Jonathan 
Trumbull  writing  to  his  father  that  trouble  is  brew 
ing  in  Boston,  and  urging  settlement  of  his  father's 
partnership  accounts  and  "vigorous  collection  of 
debts  due." 

It  must  have  been  at  this  time  that  the  business 
of  Trumbull  began  to  take  on  an  appearance  of 
hopeless  failure.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  large 
landholder  in  Lebanon,  Torrington  and  elsewhere, 
but  at  this  time  land  was  with  difficulty  convertible 
into  ready  money;  and  in  less  than  a  year  a  public 
or  private  sale  of  the  Trumbull  real  estate  for  the 
benefit  of  his  creditors  was  seriously  discussed. 

There  may  be  slight  authority  for  taking  the 
dramatic  view  of  this  failure  which  has  been  taken, 
and  for  making  the  case  a  parallel,  to  some  extent, 
with  Shakespeare's  "Merchant  of  Venice."  True 
it  is  that  Trumbull's  son  John,  in  his  autobiography 
written  at  the  age  of  eighty-four,  says : 

"About  this  time,  when  I  was  nine  or  ten  years 


FINANCIAL  DIFFICULTIES  71 

old,  my  father's  mercantile  failure  took  place.  .  .  . 
In  one  season,  almost  every  vessel,  and  all  the 
property  he  had  upon  the  ocean,  was  swept  away, 
and  he  was  a  poor  man  at  so  late  a  period  in  his 
life,  as  left  no  hope  of  retrieving  his  affairs."  ' 

This  was  an  old  man's  recollection  of  a  boy's 
impression  of  the  family  disaster,  and  hardly  seems 
borne  out  by  the  facts.  In  the  first  place  we  find 
that  Trumbull  was  always  careful  to  effect  marine 
insurance,  even  on  small  coastwise  shipments  from 
Boston  to  Norwich.  In  his  letters  to  his  London 
creditors  he  mentions  the  loss  of  but  one  vessel, 
which  partly  owing  to  the  bankruptcy  of  one  of  the 
insurers  resulted  in  a  loss  of  £630  over  and  above 
the  marine  insurance  effected.  The  fact  remains 
that  his  attempts  to  meet  the  claims  of  his  London 
creditors  by  shipments,  freights  and  the  sale  of 
vessels  resulted  badly.  He  appears  to  have  been 
willing  to  meet  a  loss  on  these  transactions,  as  we 
learn  by  the  following  letter,  written  probably  to 
Lane,  Booth  &  Frazier  on  the  ist  of  July,  1768. 

"In  order  [to  promote  trade]  laid  out  for  build 
ing  a  small  Ship  of  about  160  Tons  to  lade  Freight 
to  Ireland  with  Flaxseed,  here  or  in  England  to 
sell  the  Ship,  and  make  remittance  of  the  value 
of  the  Ship,  her  cargo  and  freight,  and  hoped  to  do 
it  without  much  loss,  but  to  my  astonishment  it 
turned  out  extream  bad." 

After  speaking  of  the  loss  of  the  vessel  just  re 
ferred  to,  he  adds  that  his  whaling  business  had 
also  resulted  in  considerable  loss. 

In  this  same  year,  1768,  the  son  Joseph,  who  was 


72  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

also  left  penniless  by  this  failure,  again  goes  to  Lon 
don  for  the  sorry  task  of  adjusting  as  best  he  may 
the  affairs  of  the  firm  with  its  creditors.  It  seems 
quite  certain  that  they  were  satisfied  that  every 
effort  would  be  made  to  meet  their  claims.  The 
father  had  already  submitted  to  these  creditors  a 
full  and  frank  statement  of  his  affairs  and  schedule 
of  his  resources,  even  to  the  books  in  his  library 
and  his  salary  as  Deputy  Governor,  and  had  con 
veyed  to  them  without  any  request  on  their  part 
such  amounts  and  values  as  he  believed  would 
eventually  satisfy  their  claims. 

The  best  evidence  of  the  confidence  which  these 
and  other  creditors  felt  in  his  integrity  is  in  the 
fact  that  they  refrained  from  pressing  their  claims 
in  court,  and  remained  satisfied  with  such  con 
veyances  of  property  as  their  debtor  could  equitably 
make.  No  record  can  be  found  of  any  legal  pro 
ceedings  against  him,  and  for  years  afterwards  he 
struggled  to  retrieve  his  fortunes,  but  without  suc 
cess.  Meantime  he  retained  his  positions  in  public 
life,  as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior  Court  and 
Judge  of  Probate  until  his  election  as  Governor 
in  1769,  advancing  in  1766  from  the  position  of 
Assistant  to  that  of  Deputy  Governor. 

From  the  time  of  his  failure  to  the  close  of  his 
life,  we  must  remember  to  look  upon  him  as  a  man 
in  reduced  financial  circumstances,  with  only  his 
personal  worth  to  recommend  him  for  the  high 
public  positions  to  which  he  was  called. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  STAMP  ACT — LETTERS  OF  JOSEPH  TRUMSULL 

FROM  LONDON CONNECTICUT'S  OPPOSITION  TO  THE 

ACT  —  INGERSOLL  COMPELLED  TO  RESIGN STAMP 

ACT  CONGRESS GOVERNOR  FITCH  TAKES  THE  OATH 

-  TRUMBULL  AND  OTHERS  REFUSE  TO  WITNESS  THE 
CEREMONY  —  TRUMBULL   ELECTED  DEPUTY  GOVER 
NOR PITKIN  SUCCEEDS  FITCH  AS  GOVERNOR 

AT  the  time  when  the  son  Joseph  made  his 
first  visit  to  London,  the  policy  of  the 
Mother  Country  towards  the  American 
colonies  had  begun  to  assume  the  greatest 
importance.  In  Massachusetts  Trumbull's  Har 
vard  classmate,  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
had  granted  the  odious  Writs  of  Assistance  on  the 
application  of  His  Majesty's  Collector  of  Customs, 
honestly  believing,  no  doubt,  that  it  was  his  bounden 
duty.  In  other  colonies,  the  king  had  begun  to 
interfere  in  internal  affairs,  such  as  the  appointment 
of  chief  justices.  Prudent  little  Connecticut  appears 
to  have  been  free  from  such  exactions  just  at  this 
time,  having  in  1762  submitted  a  very  humble 
report  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Finance,  showing 
that  the  resources  of  the  colony  were  meagre  and 
the  population  small. 

None  the  less,  however,  was  Connecticut  keenly 
alert,  watching  with  untiring  interest  the  policy 
of  the  Mother  Country  as  it  applied  to  other  colonies 

73 


74  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

and  threatened  to  apply  to  herself.  Of  all  the  pub 
lic  men  in  this  colony,  few  if  any  were  more  com 
petent  than  Trumbull  to  form  clear  and  intelligent 
opinions  on  the  weighty  political  issues  of  the  day. 
Thirty  years  in  public  life  had  familiarized  him 
with  the  charter  rights  of  his  colony  and  the  policy 
of  the  home  government,  whose  established  errors 
in  colonial  rule  were  aggravated  and  increased  by 
the  stupid  policy  of  George  III,  and  his  sycophants. 

Especially  during  Joseph  Trumbull's  first  visit 
to  London  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Parlia 
ment  ominous,  and  he  was  an  interested  listener 
to  the  discussions  of  the  day  regarding  the  colonial 
policy  of  England,  which  discussions  he  faithfully 
reported  to  his  father.  The  following  extract  from 
his  letter  of  December  10,  1763,  will  serve  as  a 
specimen : 

"They  talk  of  taxing  the  Colonies  for  the  support 
of  the  Troops  to  be  kept  up  in  America,  and  that 
tax  to  be  laid  on  the  Colonies  without  any  respect 
to  their  charter  priviledges,  or  rather,  in  such  manner 
as  to  sap  the  foundations  of  them  all.  Indeed,  our 
good  Friends,  Lord  Chief  Justice  Mansfield,  Lord 
Sandwich,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  Earl  of  Halifax 
and  some  others  are  of  the  opinion  that  all  the 
charters  in  America  should  be  immediately  vacated 
without  ceremony,  and  that  we  should  be  governed 
entirely  by  Governors  and  Councils  appointed  by 
the  King,  and  those  with  stated  salaries,  to  make 
them  independent  of  the  people,  and  that  we  should 
have  no  Assembleys. 

"When  it  objected  that  those  charters  can't  be 


LETTERS  FROM  HIS  SON  75 

taken  away  without  a  tryal  for  some  breach  of 
those  charters,  they  say  they  were  given  in  high 
Times  by  the  King  without  consent  of  Parliament, 
and  so  are  void  in  themselves. 

"They  also  propose  a  Superintendent  over /the 
whole  —  and  that  we  shall  be  prevented  making 
Bar  Iron,  and  several  other  barbarous  impositions 
are  proposed  to  be  laid  on  us,  unless  the  cruel  in 
tentions  of  those  people  now  in  power  are  by  some 
means  prevented." 

Later,  under  date  of  March  24,  1764,  he  writes: 

"The  internal  tax  is  put  off,  and  I  hope  the 
Colony's  will  make  such  objections  that  it  may  never 
be  laid  on  except  with  our  consent  —  The  thing 
aimed  at  is  not  so  much  the  money  to  be  raised 
by  the  Stamp  Duty  as  a  precedent  for  Future 
Times.  Was  we  to  give  up  this  point,  I  dare  to 
undertake  that  in  four  years'  Time  we  should  be 
governed  by  King's  Governors  and  Councils  with 
out  a  House  of  Representatives  in  all  America. 
They  may  take  away  all  our  charters  by  the  same 
Rule  they  Tax  us." 

These  and  other  similar  communications  are 
frequently  to  be  found  among  the  letters  which  the 
son  wrote  to  the  father  in  these  exciting  times. 
The  putting  off  of  the  legislation  in  Parliament 
regarding  the  taxation  of  the  American  colonies 
was,  as  we  know,  only  for  a  short  time  —  long 
enough,  however,  for  opinion  to  crystallize  in  the 
colonies  through  the  discussions  which  the  news 
from  England  continually  incited.  In  Connecticut 
we  have  the  old  tradition  of  the  secret  debate  on 


76  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  Stamp  Act  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  the 
public  issue  of  the  pamphlet  entitled  "Reasons  why 
the  British  colonies  in  America  should  not  be  charged 
with  Internal  Taxes  by  Authority  of  Parliament; 
humbly  offered  for  consideration  in  behalf  of  the 
Colony  of  Connecticut."  This  pamphlet,  officially 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  was  presented 
by  Jared  Ingersoll,  the  colony's  agent,  to  Lord 
Grenville,  who  praised  the  tone  in  which  it  was 
written,  but  declined  to  concede  the  force  of  its 
arguments. 

For  reasons  which  it  is  hardly  to  our  purpose  to 
discuss  in  this  connection,  the  Stamp  Act  passed 
the  House  of  Commons  and  became  a  law  on  March 
22,  1765;  but  through  the  influence  of  Ingersoll 
its  enforcement  in  the  colonies  was  postponed  until 
the  following  November.  It  was  impossible  for 
Benjamin  Franklin,  as  it  was  impossible  for  the 
British  people,  to  believe  that  the  enforcement  of 
the  Act  would  be  resisted  by  the  colonists.  Jared 
Ingersoll  shared  in  this  belief,  and  accepted,  on 
Franklin's  advice,  the  office  of  stamp  distributor 
for  Connecticut;  an  office  which,  on  his  arrival 
in  the  following  September,  he  was  compelled  to 
resign  at  the  demand  of  about  five  hundred  Sons 
of  Liberty  armed  with  peeled  staves,  at  Wethersfield. 

In  this  same  eventful  month  of  September,  Con 
necticut,  at  a  special  session  of  the  General  Assembly, 
appoints  her  delegates  to  the  Stamp  Act  Congress 
to  be  held  in  New  York.  Among  the  delegates  at 
first  appointed,  the  name  of  Jonathan  Trumbull 
appears;  but  for  some  reason  he  did  not  serve  on 


OPPOSITION   TO  STAMP  ACT          77 

this  commission,  and  Eliphalet  Dyer  attended  in 
his  stead,  with  the  two  other  commissioners,  ham 
pered  to  quite  an  extent  by  the  restrictions  which 
the  General  Assembly  had  laid  upon  them,  yet 
doing  good  service  in  framing  petitions  toy  the 
king  and  to  Parliament.  In  this  same  September, 
too,  the  Reverend  Stephen  Johnson  of  Lyme  begins 
his  anonymous  publications  in  the  New  London 
Gazette,  eloquently  and  forcefully  urging  resistance 
to  the  Stamp  Act. 

By  these  and  other  influences  the  people  of  Con 
necticut,  like  those  of  other  colonies,  became  unan 
imous  in  the  opinion  that  the  Stamp  Act  was 
subversive  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists.  Especially 
in  Connecticut  was  this  true,  for  a  cherished  prin 
ciple  here  had  long  been  that  no  internal  taxes 
should  be  levied  except  by  a  legislative  assembly 
in  which  the  colony  should  be  duly  represented. 
Unanimous  though  the  people  were  in  this  opinion, 
they  were  still  divided  into  two  parties,  of  which  one 
believed  that  their  duty  as  loyal  subjects  to  the 
King  of  England  compelled  them  to  obey  any  laws, 
however  odious,  which  might  be  enacted  by  the 
king's  Parliament;  while  the  other  party  believed 
that  the  rights  of  the  colonists  were  such  that  they 
were  not  bound  to  obey  any  laws  of  the  Mother 
Country  which  were  subversive  of  those  rights. 

The  one  party  was  led  by  Thomas  Fitch,  then 
Governor  of  the  colony,  a  man  well  versed  in  law, 
careful  of  the  rights  of  his  colony,  but  believing  that 
the  rights  of  his  king  were  superior,  and  that  his 
mandates,  whatever  they  might  be,  should  be 


78  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

obeyed.  No  outspoken  opponent  of  Governor  Fitch 
can  be  found  who  more  nearly  matched  him  in 
acquirements  and  ability  than  Jonathan  Trumbull, 
who  made  no  secret  of  his  belief  that  no  mandate 
of  the  king  should  be  obeyed  which  deprived  the 
colonists  of  their  rights  as  British  subjects.  In 
the  following  November  the  inevitable  clash  of  these 
two  parties  occurred  in  the  Governor's  Council, 
of  which  Trumbull  was,  as  he  had  been  for  many 
years,  a  member.  A  clause  in  the  Stamp  Act,  which 
was  to  take  effect  in  this  month,  made  it  obligatory 
upon  every  governor  of  the  American  colonies  to 
take  an  oath  to  cause  "all  and  every  of  the  clauses 
[of  the  Act]  to  be  punctually  and  bona-fide 
observed."  This  oath  Governor  Fitch  requested 
his  Council  to  administer  to  him  at  a  meeting  called 
for  that  purpose. 

There  is  no  doubt,  from  such  fragmentary  reports 
as  we  get  of  this  memorable  meeting  of  the  Gover 
nor's  Council,  that  a  long  and  a  last  heated  debate 
ensued.  It  appears  from  a  printed  statement  of 
Governor  Fitch,  in  which  he  vindicates  his  own 
course,  that  the  Council  thought  it  advisable  for 
him  to  offer  to  take  the  oath;  but  it  is  evident, 
although  he  does  not  say  so,  that  when  he  acted 
on  this  suggestion,  a  majority  of  the  Council  re 
fused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  such  a  proceeding. 
Four  members,  however,  were  willing  to  take  part 
in  the  ceremony,  and  as  three  were  sufficient  for 
the  purpose,  Governor  Fitch  called  upon  them  to 
administer  the  oath. 

He   had   argued   that   the   fine   of  one   thousand 


DEPUTY  GOVERNOR  79 

pounds  which  would,  by  the  Act,  be  imposed  upon 
any  governor  who  did  not  take  the  oath  would 
apply  equally  to  each  and  every  member  of  the 
Council  who  refused  to  administer  it.1  The  ma 
jority  of  the  Council,  to  the  number  of  seven,  re 
mained  firm  in  their  opposition  to  the  course  or  the 
Governor.  The  outspoken  protests  of  Trumbull  and 
Dyer  were,  it  is  said,  particularly  indignant,  but 
all  to  no  purpose.  The  oath  was  about  to  be  ad 
ministered,  and  the  time  had  arrived  when  actions 
must  "speak  louder  than  words."  In  this  belief 
the  seven  protesting  members  -  -  Trumbull,  as  Stuart 
tells  us,  at  their  head  —  indignantly  withdrew  from 
the  council  chamber,  refusing  to  witness  the  hate 
ful  ceremony. 

The  taking  of  the  oath  to  administer  the  Stamp 
Act  was  fatal  to  the  political  career  of  Thomas 
Fitch.  After  the  next  election  he  retired  from  pub 
lic  life,  and  William  Pitkin  was  elected  governor  in 
his  stead.  Fitch,  an  able,  intelligent  and  sincere 
man,  carried  with  him  quite  a  following,  and  ap 
peared  as  a  candidate  for  governor  on  several 
subsequent  elections,  as  a  supporter  of  the  king. 
But  popular  sentiment  was  too  strongly  opposed 
to  his  views,  and  he  passed  into  history  enrolled 
among  Sabine's  "Loyalists  of  the  American  Revo 
lution." 

With  the  election  of  William  Pitkin  as  Governor 
came  the  election  of  Jonathan  Trumbull  as  Deputy 
Governor.  The  four  members  of  Governor  Fitch's 

1  Fitch's  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Some  reasons  which  influenced  the  Governor 
to  take  and  the  Councillors  to  administer  the  oath." 


8o  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Council  who  had  administered  the  Stamp  Act  oath 
were,  with  him,  relegated  to  private  life,  and  men 
of  the  opposing  party  were  chosen  in  their  places. 
Trumbull  was  soon  placed  on  a  committee  to  assist 
the  Governor  in  preparing  "an  humble,  dutiful 
and  loyal  Address  to  his  Majesty  expressive  of  the 
filial  duty,  gratitude  and  satisfaction  of  the  Gover 
nor  and  Company  of  this  colony  on  the  happy 
occasion  of  the  beneficial  repeal  of  the  late  American 
Stamp  Act."  A  general  thanksgiving  was  appointed, 
and  the  prospect,  for  the  moment,  seemed  bright. 
The  Declaratory  Act,  however,  coupled  with  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  asserted  England's  right 
to  tax  the  American  colonies,  and  hung  ominously 
over  them,  even  in  these  days  of  general  rejoicing. 


CHAPTER  IX 

TRUMBULL      ELECTED      GOVERNOR  —  THE      POLITICAL 

PARTIES    IN    CONNECTICUT HIS    COURSE    REGARDING 

WRITS   OF  ASSISTANCE  —  THE    CONTEST   FOR  GOVERN 
ORSHIP  —  CAMPAIGN    LITERATURE 

THE  exciting  and  interesting  times  which 
we  have  now  reached  find  Trumbull  per 
sonally  at  the  lowest  ebb  of  his  mer 
cantile  career  and  politically  nearing  the  floodtide 
of  his  advancement  in  public  life.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  even  an  honorable  and  unavoidable 
mercantile  failure,  such  as  he  experienced  in  the 
second  year  of  his  deputy  governorship,  was,  in 
his  day,  more  nearly  fatal  to  political  advancement 
than  it  might  be  in  our  day.  Yet  in  1768,  the  year 
after  his  failure,  he  retained  his  office  of  deputy 
governor  by  popular  vote,  although  in  the  follow 
ing  year  he  failed  to  obtain  a  majority  of  the  votes 
of  the  freeman,  and  was  reflected  by  vote  of  the 
General  Assembly,  which  body  also  elected  him 
governor,  in  October  of  this  same  year,  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Governor  Pitkin. 
Again,  in  1770,  his  reelection  as  governor  was  by 
the  General  Assembly,  as  he  again  failed  of  "a 
majority  of  the  votes  of  the  people."  J  From  this 
time  forward,  however,  his  opponents  appear  to 
have  given  up  the  contest,  and  for  ten  years  after- 

1  Connecticut  Courant. 
81 


82  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

wards  his  election  by  the  people  was,  in  most  in 
stances,  as  good  as  unanimous. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  during  the  last  year  of 
his  deputy-governorship  and  the  first  two  years  of 
his  governorship,  party  lines  were  quite  firmly 
drawn,  and  his  opponents  used  every  means  in 
their  power  to  defeat  him.  The  indications  are 
that  the  two  parties  previously  referred  to  were  at 
this  time  quite  evenly  divided,  and  that  Trum- 
bull's  pronounced  views  of  opposition  to  the  op 
pressive  measures  of  the  home  government  were 
coupled  with  his  unfortunate  financial  condition 
by  his  opponents  in  a  way  to  prejudice  voters 
against  him.  In  1768  application  had  been  made  to 
him  as  Chief  Justice  by  His  Majesty's  Collector 
of  Customs,  Duncan  Stewart,  for  Writs  of  Assis 
tance,  authorizing  the  king's  officers  of  the  customs 
indiscriminately  to  search  private  houses  for  smug 
gled  goods  and  for  other  evidences  of  violation  of 
the  navigation  laws,  and  to  compel  any  person 
upon  whom  they  might  call  to  assist  them  in  such 
search.  Eight  years  before  this  time,  Thomas 
Hutchinson,  as  we  have  seen,  had  granted  such 
writs  in  Massachusetts  against  the  eloquent  appeals 
of  James  Otis  and  against  the  expressed  sentiment 
and  will  of  the  people. 

It  is,  perhaps,  enough  to  say  that,  owing  to  the 
stand  taken  by  Trumbull  as  Chief  Justice  at  this 
time  and  subsequently,  such  writs  were  never 
granted  in  Connecticut.  The  first  application  for 
these  writs  was,  no  doubt,  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  applicants  to  test  the  position  of  Chief  Justice 


JUDICIAL  DECISION  83 

Trumbull  on  the  subject.  The  court  record  of  this 
case  closes  with  the  following  decision,  if  it  may  be 
so  called  : 

"And  no  information  being  made  by  said  Peti 
tioners,  or  otherwise,  of  any  special  occasion*  for 
said  Writ  --  this  Court  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  need 
ful  to  consider  on  the  purport  of  said  Act  (]of  Parlia 
ment],  and  the  manner  and  form  of  granting  such 
Writs  of  Assistance,  according  to  the  usages  of 
his  Majesty's  Court  of  Exchequer:  Therefore  this 
Court  will  further  consider  and  advise  thereon." 

And  thus  the  matter  rested  for  more  than  a  year, 
during  which  time  Trumbull  wrote  at  some  length 
on  the  subject  to  Richard  Jackson,  the  agent  of 
Connecticut  at  London,  and  to  William  Samuel 
Johnson,  who  was  in  London  as  a  special  agent  and 
attorney  in  the  then  celebrated  Mohegan  case. 
Johnson  writes  in  September,  1769: 

"I  own  I  was  surprised  to  find  such  a  Writ  in 
use  in  a  country  so  jealous  of  its  liberties,  but  it 
seems  it  now  has  custom  on  its  side,  and  issues  quite 
of  course.  I  find  it  has  also  been  adopted  in  Mas 
sachusetts  Bay  and  some  other  Provinces,  and  is 
said  to  be  grounded  on  this  principle  —  that  the 
presence  of  the  Civil  Officer  is  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  Peace,  as  well  as  to  give  a  proper 
Countenance  to  the  Officers  of  the  Revenue." 

During  the  previous  April,  it  seems  that  Collector 
Stewart,  after  waiting  for  thirteen  months  for  re 
sults  of  the  further  consideration  and  advice  which 
the  Court  purposed  to  take  regarding  his  previous 
petition,  again  applies,  more  specifically  than  be- 


84  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

fore,  for  Writs  of  Assistance,  citing  a  case  in  which 
such  a  writ  was  needed.  Again  Chief  Justice  Trum- 
buH  replies  that  "the  Court  will  be  further  advised", 
and  that  he  will  lay  the  case  before  the  General 
Assembly  which  was  soon  to  convene.  This  body 
met  a  full  statement  of  the  matter  in  its  usual  con 
servative  and  cautious  manner,  replying  through  a 
committee  "that  the  Assembly  could  take  no  notice 
of  it,  that  it  belonged  to  the  Superior  Court,  and 
that  as  individuals,  not  as  members  of  the  Assembly, 
they  advised  the  Court  not  to  grant  such  Warrants, 
which  seemed  to  be  the  universal  opinion",  as 
appears  from  a  letter  written  by  Trumbull  to  William 
Samuel  Johnson,  June  14,  1769.  He  also  writes  as 
follows  to  Johnson  in  the  same  letter,  referring  to 
an  application  from  the  king's  attorney  for  his 
decision,  which  he  does  not  intend  to  give  until 
the  next  term  of  the  court : 

"I  have  taken  care  to  find  what  the  Courts  in 
the  other  Colonies  have  done,  and  find  no  such 
Writs  have  been  given  by  any  of  the  Courts  except 
in  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  where  they 
are  given  as  soon  as  asked  for.  I  believe  the  Courts 
in  all  the  other  Colonies  will  be  as  well  united,  and 
as  firm  in  this  Matter,  as  in  anything  that  has  yet 
happened  between  us  and  Great  Britain. 

"I  have  never  yet  seen  any  Act  of  Parliament 
authorizing  the  Court  of  Exchequer  in  giving  such 
Writs  as  they  give,  but  conceive  they  have  crept 
into  use  by  the  inattention  of  the  people,  and  the 
bad  practices  of  designing  men.  We  are  directed 
to  give  such  Writs  as  the  Court  of  Exchequer  are 


WRITS  OF  ASSISTANCE  85 

enabled  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  give,  which  are 
very  different,  as  I  conceive,  from  such  Writs  as 
they  do  give.  Our  Court  will,  on  all  occasions  of 
Complaint,  grant  such  Warrants  as  may  be  neces 
sary  for  promoting  his  Majesty's  service,  artH  at 
the  same  time  consistent  with  the  liberty  and  priv 
ilege  of  the  subject,  and  made  returnable  to  the 
Court;  but  further  than  that  we  dare  not  go,  and 
they  must  not  expect  we  shall.  I  give  you  my  mind 
on  this  subject,  as  I  expect  representation  will  be 
made  of  the  conduct  of  the  Court  herein,  and  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  have  you  prepared  on  the 


occasion.' 


The  letter  closes  with  Trumbull's  view  of  the 
failure  to  intimidate  the  colonies  by  sending  troops 
to  awe  them  into  submission,  and  with  the  following 
significant  words: 

"Notwithstanding  the  ill-judged  burthens  heaped 
upon  us  by  a  weak  and  wicked  Administration,  we 
still  retain  a  degree  of  regard,  and  even  fondness 
for  Great  Britain,  and  a  firm  attachment  to  his 
Majesty's  person,  family,  and  government,  and  on 
just  and  equal  terms,  as  children,  not  as  slaves, 
should  rejoice  to  remain  united  with  them  to  the 
latest  time.  But  to  think  of  being  slaves  —  we 
who  so  well  know  the  bitterness  of  it  by  the  in 
stances  so  continually  before  our  eyes,  cannot  bear 
the  shocking  thought  —  Nature  starts  back  at  the 
idea!" 

Johnson  having,  as  we  have  seen,  already  in 
formed  Trumbull  of  the  readiness  with  which  Writs 
of  Assistance  were  granted  in  England  and  the 


86  JONArHAN   TRUMBULL 

legal  status  of  such  writs,  replies  under  date  of 
October  16,  1769,  to  the  above  letter,  making  men 
tion  of  the  course  of  Trumbull : 

"The  intelligence  you  have  favored  me  with  of 
the  steps  which  have  been  taken  relative  to  writs 
of  assistance,  is  very  obliging  as  well  as  useful  to 
the  purpose  you  mention.  It  gives  me  pleasure  to 
find  that  it  is  so  probable  that  the  courts  of  the  other 
Colonies  will  be  agreed  with  you  on  this  important 
point.  Union  in  this,  as  in  everything  else,  is  of 
the  last  importance.  If  an  united  stand  is  made 
upon  this  occasion,  I  think  it  extremely  probable 
that  the  capital  point  will  be  carried  without  much 
difficulty;  and  it  will  be  a  very  great  satisfaction, 
and  not  a  little  redound  to  their  honor,  that  the 
Superior  Court  of  Connecticut  have  taken  the  lead 
in  a  matter  of  so  much  consequence  to  the  liberty, 
the  property,  and  the  security  of  the  subject." 

Thus  did  one  of  the  most  learned  and  scholarly 
of  the  sons  of  Connecticut  support  and  commend 
the  course  of  Trumbull  in  this  matter.  No  record 
can  be  found  of  any  further  reply  to  the  application 
of  the  King's  Attorney,  a  reply  which  it  may  not 
have  been  prudent,  at  the  time,  to  place  on  the 
records  of  the  Court.  The  attitude  of  the  Chief 
Justice  in  the  matter  is  plainly  shown  in  his  corre 
spondence  with  Johnson. 

But  there  were  others  -  -  Trumbull's  political  op 
ponents  —  who  viewed  this  and  similar  matters 
differently,  and  who  persuaded  themselves  and 
tried  to  persuade  others  that  such  men  as  Trum 
bull,  Johnson  and  all  others  who  were  unwilling  to 


CAMPAIGN  LITERATURE  87 

submit  to  the  measures  and  requirements  of  the 
home  government  were  little,  if  any,  better  than 
anarchists.  After  the  death  of  Governor  Pitkin 
in  October,  1769,  and  the  appointment  of  Trum- 
bull  by  the  General  Assembly  to  fill  his  unexpired 
term,  there  is  no  doubt  that  an  active  canvass  for 
the  next  election  of  a  governor  ensued,  and  that 
ex-Governor  Fitch,  or  his  friends,  or  both,  used 
all  the  political  methods  of  the  day  to  secure  his 
reelection  by  the  people.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
these  methods  included  full  discussions  in  the 
country  store,  field  and  fireside,  of  the  merits  of 
the  two  candidates  Trumbull  and  Fitch,  in  which 
the  course  of  the  former  in  refusing  to  witness  the 
taking  of  the  Stamp  Act  oath,  in  refusing  to  issue 
Writs  of  Assistance,  and  in  denouncing  the  policy 
of  the  home  government  were  severely  criticized  by 
the  conservatives.  Even  the  poet  of  the  day  dis 
cussed  the  situation  in  verse,  and  has  left  us  as  a 
result  a  ballad  which  is  numbered  among  the  curi 
osities  of  American  literature.  It  discloses  the  fact 
that  Trumbull's  mercantile  failure  figured,  as  has 
been  intimated,  among  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
his  political  advancement.  The  ballad  consists  of 
ten  verses,  each  followed  by  a  chorus  applying  par 
ticularly  to  the  governor  to  whom  it  refers.  The 
verses  relating  to  Governors  Fitch  and  Pitkin,  and 
to  the  coming  election,  apply  particularly  to  the 
situation  at  the  time,  although  the  ballad  refers 
to  the  various  governors  under  the  charter,  with 
the  exception  of  Governor  William  Leete.  In  the 
following  verses  "Pitch"  means  Governor  Fitch, 


88  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

whose  pseudonym  is  intended  to  conform  to  the 
nautical  cast  of  the  ballad;  "Will"  means  Governor 
Pitkin,  and  "his  Purser",  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the 
opposing  candidate.  The  "Gunners"  doubtless 
mean  such  men  as  Israel  Putnam,  John  Durkee, 
and  other  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  the  "midshippers" 
are  their  followers. 

"Old  Captain  Pitch  commanded  next,  — 

A  skillful  navigator, 
And  as  good  a  seaman  as  ever  turned 

His  hardy  face  to  weather. 
When  a  mutiny  on  board  the  Ship, 

Fomented  by  Chaplain  and  Gunner, 
Drove  Captain  Pitch  from  the  quarter-deck, 

And  the  Ship  was  most  undone,  Sir. 

"CHORUS  — Now  this  is  what  I  will  maintain, 

Let  who  will  it  gainsay,  Sir,  - 
Whene'er  the  Crew  has  mutinied 

The  Chaplain  has  been  in  the  fray,  Sir. 

"Our  old  friend  Will  next  took  the  Helm, 

Who'd  cruised  for  many  years,  Sir, 
And  steer'd  as  well,  when  the  weather  was  calm, 

As  any  Tar  on  board,  Sir. 
His  friendly  art  succeeded  now 

To  accomplish  every  measure, 
By  a  'How  do  you  do,'  with  a  decent  Bow, 

And  a  shaking  of  hands  forever. 

"CHORUS  —  Now  this  is  what  I  will  maintain 

As  the  judgment  of  one  Freeman, 
That  his  bowing  his  head  and  shaking  of  hands 
Was  done  to  please  the  Seaman. 

"Now  Will  is  dead,  and  his  Purser  broke, 
I  know  not  who'll  come  next,  Sir; 


CAMPAIGN  LITERATURE  89 

The  Seamen  call  for  old  Pitch  again,  — 

Affairs  are  sore  perplexed,  Sir. 
But  the  Gunners  and  some  midshippers 

Are  making  an  insurrection, 
And  would  rather  the  ship  should  founder  quite     y 

Than  be  saved  by  Pitch's  inspection. 

-  But  this  is  what  I  will  maintain, 

In  spite  of  Gunners  and  all,  Sir,  — 
If  Pitch  can  save  the  Ship  once  more, 
'Tis  best  he  overhaul  her! 

Amen." 

The  entire  ballad  bears  the  title : 
"Observations  on  the   several   commanders  of  the 
Ship  Connecticut.  Oct.  10,  1769.  by  an  old  decrepid 
Seaman  who  laments  the  Ship's  misfortune. 

"To  the  tune  of  'The  Vicar  of  Bray'. 
"'Sic  transit  Gloria  MundiV 

This  ballad,  like  some  other  campaign  literature, 
was  probably  circulated  in  manuscript.  As  an 
indication  of  the  interest  which  the  candidate  felt 
in  it,  a  copy  was  found,  long  after  his  death,  among 
the  "Trumbull  Papers"  which  are  now  in  possession 
of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 

Unfortunately  for  our  purpose,  the  political  con 
tests  of  the  time  made  no  showing  in  the  public 
press,  and  we  are  only  informed  by  the  Connecticut 
Courant,  that  Trumbull,  at  the  election  in  May, 
1770,  did  not  receive  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the 
people,  while  the  records  of  the  General  Assembly 
contain  only  the  bare  statement  that  he  was  elected 
by  the  vote  of  that  body,  although  all  the  other 


90  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

candidates,   for  whose   offices   there   was   probably 
less  of  a  contest,  were  elected  by  popular  vote. 
'  And  thus  Governor  Fitch  passes  from  sight  in 
public   life,   and   Governor  Trumbull   assumes   the 
position  which  Fitch  reluctantly  relinquished. 


CHAPTER  X 

DEATH  OF  TRUMBULL'S  MOTHER  —  THE  MOHEGAN 
CASE  SUSQUEHANNA  CASE  --  EMBASSY  OF  WIL 
LIAM  SAMUEL  JOHNSON  HIS  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH 

THE    GOVERNORS    OF    CONNECTICUT  --  JOHNSON'S    AC 
TION    IN    THE    SUSQUEHANNA    CASE    IN    LONDON  — 
TRUMBULL'S  SHARE  IN  THIS  CASE 

IT   should  be  noted  that  on  November  8,  1768, 
Trumbull's     mother    died     at     the     advanced 
age   of   eighty-five,    leaving    him,   at    the   age 
of  fifty-eight,    with    a  new  generation  of  sons  and 
daughters    about   him.     With   his   election   to   the 
governorship,    his   other   public   offices  ceased,  and 
such  personal  business  as  he  was  engaged  in  was 
gradually  relinquished,  until,  in  a  few  years,  it  was 
entirely  given  up. 

The  beginning  of  Governor  Trumbull's  term  of 
office  finds  the  colony  of  Connecticut  with  two  im 
portant  and  intricate  lawsuits  on  her  hands.  These 
were  the  Mohegan  case  and  the  Susquehanna  case, 
the  responsibilities  of  which  fell  at  once  upon  the 
chief  executive  of  the  colony.  His  position  on  the 
Governor's  Council  for  many  years,  and  his  appoint 
ment  on  committees  in  connection  with  both  these 
cases,  had  familiarized  him  with  their  merits,  and 
prepared  him  for  the  more  active  part  which  he 
was  now  to  take  in  their  prosecution.  Far  more 
important,  however,  was  the  general  attitude  of 

91 


92  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Great  Britain  towards  her  American  colonies  at 
this  time,  and  the  policy  to  be  pursued  by  the  unique 
little  colony  of  Connecticut  to  preserve  her  liberal 
charter  rights  and  the  rights  of  her  people  as  free- 
born  Englishmen.  In  all  these  matters,  corre 
spondence  and  documents  have  been  preserved 
which  show,  quite  plainly,  Trumbull's  various  sour 
ces  of  information  and  the  opportunities  he  enjoyed 
for  forming  a  careful  and  candid  opinion  not  only 
on  the  affairs  of  his  colony,  but  on  the  affairs  of  his 
country  as  well. 

First,  regarding  the  Mohegan  case:  This  was,  at 
the  time  of  his  first  election,  as  Governor,  a  case  of 
sixty-five  years'  standing  —  six  years  older  than 
the  Governor  himself.  It  had  begun  in  1704,  as  the 
result  of  a  commission  appointed  by  Queen  Anne 
upon  the  petition  of  the  Mohegan  Indians  insti 
gated  by  John  Mason,  a  descendant  of  the  hero  of 
the  Pequot  War,  claiming  lands  of  which  they 
alleged  they  had  been  deprived.  Joseph  Dudley 
of  Massachusetts  was  at  the  head  of  this  commis 
sion.  Connecticut,  relying  on  her  charter  rights, 
refused  to  appear  and  plead  in  her  own  defense,  and 
the  case  was  decided  against  her,  with  costs  amount 
ing  to  £573,  12.  8.,  as  it  probably  would  have  been 
in  any  event.  By  this  decision,  the  colony  was 
called  upon  to  give  up  to  the  Mohegan  Indians 
lands  which  had  been  gained  by  conquest  of  the 
Pequots,  by  purchase,  and  by  conveyance  to  the 
colony  from  the  first  John  Mason.  An  appeal 
brought  about  the  appointment  of  a  commission 
of  review  in  1706,  but  Connecticut,  finding  herself 


THE  MOHEGAN  CASE  93 

able  under  her  charter  to  manage  her  own  Indian 
affairs,  never  made  use  of  this  commission,  and  it 
was  not  until  1737  that  the  case  ever  appeared  in 
court  again.  Meantime  the  Mohegans  were  di 
vided  into  two  factions,  one  for  and  one  opposed 
to  the  claim;  and  their  sachems  had  made  grants 
of  land  in  all  directions,  sometimes  conveying  the 
same  piece  of  land  to  several  different  parties.  The 
Masons,  of  whom  there  was  now  a  new  generation, 
went  to  England  and  applied  for  a  new  commission 
to  determine  the  claims  which  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut  had  refused  to  grant  them.  A 
commission  was  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  con 
vened  at  Norwich  on  June  4,  1738.  After  a  long 
hearing,  in  which  it  is  interesting  to  watch  the  course 
of  the  Colony,  a  decision  was  given  in  its  favor. 
With  this  decision  the  Masons,  of  course,  were 
dissatisfied,  again  appealed  to  the  Crown,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  the  decision  set  aside  and  a 
new  commission  appointed.  This  commission  met 
at  Norwich  in  July,  1743,  and  by  a  bare  majority 
again  decided  in  favor  of  Connecticut,  on  the  fifth 
of  the  following  November.  Again  the  Masons 
appealed  to  the  Crown,  and  upon  this  appeal,  it 
was  decided  that  the  case  should  be  tried  before 
"The  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty  in  Council." 
This  brings  us  to  the  year  1766,  at  which  time  it 
was  found  necessary  for  Connecticut  to  send  William 
Samuel  Johnson  as  a  special  agent  to  London  to 
assist  Richard  Jackson,  the  resident  agent  of  the 
Colony,  in  preparing  the  case  for  defense.  A  wiser 
choice  of  a  special  agent  could  not  have  been  made. 


94  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Johnson  was  well  versed  in  the  law,  and  proved 
himself  an  accomplished  courtier  and  diplomatist. 
Ror  the  five  years  during  which  he  waited  in  England 
at  great  personal  sacrifice  and  inconvenience,  for 
the  trial  of  the  case,  his  services  to  his  country  can 
hardly  be  overestimated.  It  was  fortunate  for 
Connecticut  that  the  frequent  attacks  of  gout 
suffered  by  the  Attorney-general,  and  the  constant 
habit  of  members  of  the  King's  Council  of  betaking 
themselves  to  their  country  residences  during  the 
recesses  and  vacations  of  Parliament,  when  the 
case  was  set  down  for  trial,  kept  Johnson  in  London 
waiting  from  one  to  another  postponement  by  the 
King's  Council. 

The  case  itself  sinks  into  insignificance  when 
compared  with  the  important  news  which  Johnson 
was  enabled  to  send  to  the  governors  of  Connecticut 
during  his  long,  enforced  exile  in  London.  Of 
these  letters  Doctor  Jeremy  Belknap  says,  before 
their  publication  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  "I  have  read  the  letters  repeatedly  with 
delight,  and  have  gained  a  better  idea  of  the  polit 
ical  system  than  from  all  the  books  published  dur 
ing  that  period.  .  .  .  The  publication  of  them 
would  do  him  honor,  as  he  appears  in  them  to  have 
been  a  firm  friend  to  the  liberties  of  his  country,  and 
a  faithful,  vigilant,  discerning  agent,  detesting  the 
artifices,  evasions  and  blunders  of  the  British  Court, 
and  giving  the  best  information,  advice  and  cau 
tion  to  his  employers." 

Now    that    these    letters    are    in    print,1    Doctor 

1  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Vol.  9,  fifth  series. 


LETTER  FROM  HUTCHINSON          95 

Belknap's  verdict  of  more  than  a  century  ago  may 
well  be  reaffirmed  by  the  reader  of  to-day. 

It  was  this  mass  of  active  correspondence,  among 
other  things,  that  Trumbull  in  his  positions  of 
Deputy  Governor  and  Governor  discussed /and 
studied  in  council  and  in  private;  and  from  this 
and  other  sources  that  he  gained  his  knowledge 
of  the  mistaken  policy  of  Great  Britain  towards 
her  American  colonies.  He  heard  the  other  side, 
too;  for  in  November,  1769,  we  find  his  Harvard 
classmate,  Thomas  Hutchinson,  writing  him,  after 
speaking  of  the  loss  of  the  Warwick  patent  in  the 
destruction  of  his  home : 

"I  have  letters  from  Sir  F.  Bernard  who  was  as 
favorably  received  as  he  could  wish.  .  .  .  The 
Parliament  would  not  meet  till  after  Xmas.  We 
had  not  provoked  them  enough  the  last  of  Sept. 
wholly  to  lay  aside  the  intention  of  repealing  the 
Revenue  Acts,  or  part  of  them.  I  wish  what  we 
have  done  since  may  not  do  it.  They  desire  all  the 
effects  of  the  Merchants'  Combination,  but  resent 
the  contempt  and  indignity  which  they  carry  with 
them.  I  am  sorry  your  Assembly  have  publickly 
justified  them.  It  is  not  improbable  ours  will  follow 
the  example, 
"lam 

"Your  most  Obed,  Humble  ServA 

"Tho.  Hutchinson."1 

The  monotony  of  the  reports  of  Johnson  regard 
ing  the  delays  and  heavy  expenses  in  the  Mohegan 
case  is  varied,  at  times,  by  his  reports  of  the  phases 

1  Unpublished  Trumbull  papers  in  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


96  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

which  it  assumed  during  his  five  years  of  waiting 
for  its  trial;  and  by  the  important  information 
which  Governor  Trumbull  sent  him  regarding  the 
right  and  title  of  Connecticut  to  the  Indian 
lands  in  question.  Johnson's  alert  watchfulness 
in  the  matter  discovers  that  Samson  Occum,  the 
Indian  preacher,  had  returned  to  London  in  the 
interests  of  the  case,  and  had  held  an  interview 
with  Lord  Hillsborough  regarding  it  in  March, 
1768.  During  the  pendency  of  the  case  in  1769 
Johnson  learns  that  the  Indians,  through  the  Mason 
party,  had  presented  a  petition  to  the  king  regarding 
it,  which  irregular  proceeding  was  rumored  to  have 
been  by  the  advice  of  Lord  Hillsborough;  where 
upon  Johnson  confronts  him  with  this  rumor,  and 
is  met  by  his  denial  of  any  knowledge  of  such  peti 
tion,  and  his  acquiescence  in  Johnson's  opinion  that 
such  a  proceeding  would  be  unwarrantable.  John 
son  is  also  obliged  to  deny  a  false  accusation  on  the 
part  of  the  appellants  that  the  colonial  agents  had 
attempted  to  delay  or  prevent  the  trial  by  bribing 
attorneys.  He  also  watches  Mason,  and  learns 
that  he  went  to  America  for  more  money  and  evi 
dence  in  1769,  but  was  unsuccessful  in  the  quest  of 
evidence,  though  his  friends  furnished  him  some 
money.  "He  has  no  fresh  grounds  of  hope,"  John 
son  writes,  "nor  we  of  fear",  the  principal  grounds 
of  fear  at  this  time  being  that  the  prejudice  in 
London  against  the  colonies  in  general  might  injure 
the  case  for  Connecticut.  It  is  at  this  point  that 
we  learn  of  Johnson's  solicitude  for  the  effects  of 
an  adverse  decision  upon  the  charter  rights  of  the 


THE  MOHEGAN  CASE  97 

colony;  something  far  more  to  be  dreaded  than  the 
mere  success  of  Mason  in  establishing  his  claim. 
At  this  point,  too,  he  acknowledges  the  receipt  of 
TrumbulPs  statement  of  the  entire  case,  and  praises 
the  just  and  clear  idea  which  it  gives,  expressing^the 
hope  and  belief  that  Trumbull's  visit  to  the  Mohe- 
gans  by  appointment  of  the  General  Assembly  will 
have  a  good  effect.  Trumbull's  scrupulous  atten 
tion  to  the  case  is  evidenced  by  Johnson's  acknowl 
edgment  of  a  genealogical  draft  from  his  hands, 
showing  the  pedigree  of  the  Mohegan  sachems,  a 
question  which  had  played  an  important  part  in 
the  earlier  hearings.  Later,  too,  Trumbull  gives 
in  full  detail  the  schemes  of  one  Moses  Park  to 
prejudice  the  case.  In  short,  no  detail  escapes  his 
attention  which  may  be  of  any  use  to  Johnson  in 
his  defense  of  the  rights  of  his  colony,  and  all  these 
matters  of  interest  are  fully  communicated  to  him, 
forming  the  only  known  sources  of  information 
which  Johnson  received  from  home  in  the  matter 
during  his  long  sojourn  in  England. 

The  proceedings  were  varied  in  1770  by  a  motion 
on  the  part  of  Connecticut  to  dismiss  the  appeal. 
At  last,  on  June  12,  1770,  the  case  was  opened  in 
Council  by  the  appellants  in  an  address  consuming 
two  days,  in  which  the  colony  and  landholders  were 
called  tyrants  and  usurpers,  to  which  false  accusa 
tions  the  Council  were  only  too  ready  to  listen. 
The  illness  of  the  Attorney-general,  who  was  to 
answer  for  Connecticut,  postponed  the  trial  for 
another  full  year,  until  at  last  we  find  Johnson 
writing  that  the  hearing  ended  on  June  n,  1771, 


98  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

at  which  time  the  decision  was  pending.  This 
decision  was  at  last  given  practically  in  favor  of 
Connecticut,  at  or  about  the  time  when  Johnson 
gladly  returned  to  his  home. 

Thus  ended  a  lawsuit  of  nearly  seventy  years' 
standing,  in  the  course  of  which  Trumbull's  share 
in  the  defense  of  his  colony  forms  an  important 
part.  He  it  was  who  prepared  a  full  statement 
of  the  case,  and  furnished,  as  we  have  seen,  other 
important  evidence  regarding  it.  A  service  of  in 
estimable  value  which  he  performed  in  connection 
with  these  careful  and  arduous  researches  was  the 
preservation  of  the  only  portion  of  the  journal  of 
the  first  John  Winthrop  then  known  to  exist.  At 
the  time  of  making  his  investigations  this  journal  was 
secured  by  him  among  papers  furnished  by  the 
Winthrop  family.  His  knowledge  and  love  of  the 
study  of  the  history  of  his  colony  and  country  led 
him  to  be  the  first  to  discover  the  value  of  this 
important  document.  The  discovery  of  the  second 
portion  of  this  journal  in  the  old  South  Church  in 
Boston  in  1816  completed  this  contemporary  his 
tory  which  has  proved  so  valuable  to  historians. 
In  the  same  connection,  too,  Trumbull  preserved 
Lion  Gardiner's  account  of  the  Pequot  War,  thus 
completing  the  four  contemporary  accounts  of  par 
ticipators  in  this  important  event. 

One  of  the  many  unexpected  services  which 
Johnson  was  able  to  perform  during  his  stay  in 
London  was  in  connection  with  the  Susquehanna 
case,  which  the  heirs  of  William  Penn  undertook 
to  bring  before  British  tribunals  at  the  time,  in 


THE  SUSQUEHANNA  CASE  99 

which  attempt  they  were  defeated  by  Johnson's 
masterly  arguments  before  the  Board  of  Trade, 
to  which  the  case  had  been  referred. 

In  February,  1769,  the  first  fight  or  battle  in 
what  is  known  as  the  first  Pennamite  war  had  ta*ken 
place  in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  while  Trumbull  was 
still  Deputy  Governor  of  Connecticut.  At  the 
session  of  the  General  Assembly  which  appointed 
him  Governor,  the  Susquehanna  case  had  assumed 
such  importance  that  he  was  appointed  to  collect 
all  possible  evidence  which  might  show  the  rights 
of  Connecticut  in  the  premises.  As  brief  a  statement 
as  possible  of  this  complicated  case  will  be  needed 
to  show  us  with  what  he  had  to  deal. 

At  the  Albany  Congress  of  1754,  a  company  of 
Connecticut  men  known  as  the  Susquehanna  Com 
pany  bought  from  the  Iroquois  Indians  a  tract  of 
land  in  the  Wyoming  Valley  of  Pennsylvania  for 
£2000.  It  was  believed  by  this  company  that  the 
charter  of  Connecticut  clearly  gave  that  colony 
jurisdiction  over  this  land,  and  that  the  Connec 
ticut  custom  of  buying  and  paying  for  it  as  Indian 
property  would  do  the  rest.  King  Charles  II  had 
first  granted  the  land  to  Connecticut  under  her 
charter  in  1662.  In  1681,  rivalling  the  Indians  in 
their  real  estate  transactions,  he  granted  the  same 
land  to  William  Penn,  leaving  the  lawyers  of  a  later 
date  to  decide  whether  a  royal  grant  of  land  which 
had  already  been  granted  to  others  should  legally 
dispossess  the  first  grantees.  In  1762,  the  Susque 
hanna  Company  sent  two  hundred  men  into  the 
Wyoming  Valley  to  effect  a  pioneer  settlement  under 


ioo  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

their  Indian  deed  and  the  Connecticut  charter. 
The  settlers  fell  victims  to  what  may  be  called 
the  first  Wyoming  Massacre,  now  almost  forgotten 
in  the  greater  horrors  of  the  second,  some  sixteen 
years  later.  Twenty  of  their  number  were  killed 
by  the  Delaware  Indians,  who  surprised  and  over 
powered  them,  wiping  out  this  first  settlement. 

In  1769,  with  true  Connecticut  grit  and  persis 
tence,  a  new  settlement  was  begun  on  the  site  of  the 
old  one,  and  with  it  began  the  Pennamite  wars, 
so  called.  From  this  time  on,  for  two  or  three 
years,  the  first  of  these  "wars"  raged  with  varying 
fortunes,  under  Colonel  Zebulon  Butler  as  the 
leader  for  the  Connecticut  settlers,  and  Captain 
Amos  Ogden  for  the  Penns.  Four  times  was  the 
settlement  of  the  Susquehanna  Company  wiped 
out,  and  four  times  settlers  returned  to  the  conflict, 
which  was  carried  on  even  after  the  battles  of 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  had  been  fought,  when, 
at  Governor  Trumbull's  earnest  request,  the  legal 
proceedings  were  postponed  for  the  sake  of  harmony 
among  the  colonies,  leaving  the  Connecticut  settlers 
still  in  possession  of  the  valley,  only  to  fall  victims 
to  the  terrible  Wyoming  Massacre  of  1778,  and  once 
more  to  return  and  rebuild  their  settlement. 

The  final  verdict  regarding  the  claim  of  Connecti 
cut  to  the  Wyoming  Valley  was  at  last  reached  by  a 
commission  appointed  by  the  Continental  Congress 
of  1782,  and  the  decision  was  adverse  to  that  plucky 
and  pertinacious  little  State  which  for  twenty  years 
had  so  bravely  maintained  her  foothold  in  the 
beautiful  valley  which  at  last  she  lost,  but  on  which 


LAND  GRANTS  '  101 

the  influence  she  stamped  had  a  vital  effect  in  the 
days  of  the  Revolution,  and  even  down  to  the 
present  day.  Far  more  important,  however,  was 
a  grant  made  to  Connecticut  as  a  tacit  compensa 
tion  for  her  loss  of  Wyoming,  being  a  tract  in  ^vhat 
was  then  the  wilderness  of  Ohio,  larger  than  the 
land  she  could  still  call  her  own.  Here,  in  the 
Western  Reserve,  was  the  basis  of  her  permanent 
school  fund,  and  here  she  sent  her  sons  to  transplant 
her  sterling  qualities  in  the  new  country,  now  grow 
ing  old,  which  is  still  so  largely  peopled  by  men  of 
Connecticut  ancestry. 

Early  in  his  first  term  of  office  Governor  Trum- 
bull  was  appointed  with  Colonel  George  Wyllys 
as  "a  committee  to  make  diligent  search  after  all 
deeds  of  conveyance  relative  to  the  title  of  the 
lands  granted  by  the  Crown  to  this  Colony  by  the 
royal  charter",  and  if  not  found  in  America,  "write 
to  the  Agent  of  the  Colony  in  Great  Britain  to  make 
diligent  search  for  the  aforesaid  deeds,  and  also 
the  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island,  and  in  general 
all  other  grants  that  can  affect  us  ... 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  read  between  the  lines 
in  this  resolve  to  discover  that  the  then  opening 
Pennamite  war  had  something  —  perhaps  every 
thing  —  to  do  with  it.  We  have  seen  that  Governor 
Hutchinson  of  Massachusetts  reported  at  about  this 
time  to  Trumbull,  doubtless  in  reply  to  an  inquiry, 
that  the  original  Warwick  patent  was  lost  in  the 
destruction  of  his  home.  Trumbull  then  writes  to 
Johnson  in  London,  stating  that  the  action  of  the 


102  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

General  Assembly  was  "occasioned  partly  by  the 
Susquehanna  Purchase",  and  asking  for  the  docu 
ments  in  question,  also  for  an  investigation  of  the 
legacy  of  Governor  Hopkins  of  £2000  for  educa 
tional  purposes,  and  Colonel  Fenwick's  legacy  of 
£500  for  public  uses. 

Careful  search  was  made  by  Johnson  for  the 
papers  in  question,  but  he  was  only  successful  in 
finding  a  part  of  them.  His  advice,  given  at  length, 
with  reasons  and  arguments,  was  to  the  effect  that 
Connecticut  as  a  colony  should  refrain  from  pressing 
her  claim  to  the  Wyoming  Valley,  and  should  insist 
that  the  controversy  then  pending  should  be  con 
fined  strictly  to  the  Susquehanna  Company  and 
the  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  or,  if  possible,  the  heirs 
of  William  Penn  in  whom  the  title  to  the  land  rested. 
Johnson's  solicitude  for  the  safety  of  the  Connecti 
cut  charter  led  him  to  this  view;  for  his  obser 
vations  in  London  showed  him  the  temper  of  the 
governing  powers  towards  the  most  liberal  of  all  the 
colonial  charters,  and  led  him  to  believe,  no  doubt 
quite  rightly,  that  this  was  no  time  for  the  asser 
tion  of  such  rights  as  Connecticut  possessed  under 
that  charter.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Penn  party, 
who  were  then  represented  in  London,  lost  no  oppor 
tunity  for  urging  a  hearing  of  the  case  as  between 
the  two  colonies,  and  went  so  far  as  to  sell  a  con 
siderable  portion  of  the  land  in  the  Wyoming  Valley 
to  Pennsylvanians  in  order  to  give  more  of  a  colonial 
color  to  the  case.  The  agents  of  the  Penns  at  last 
succeeded  in  bringing  the  case  to  a  hearing  before 
the  Board  of  Trade,  in  which  Johnson  succeeded, 


FINAL   SETTLEMENT  103 

as  has  been  said,  in  showing  that  it  was  an  issue 
between  a  corporation  and  the  claimants  of  pro 
prietorship  in  the  land,  and  as  such  should  fall 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  colonial  courts  of  law. 
Thus  the  Susquehanna  case  was  removed  from'the 
British  tribunals,  after  which,  in  the  heat  of  the 
Pennamite  wars,  and  near  the  opening  of  the  Revo 
lution,  Connecticut  at  last  asserted  her  rights  by 
enacting  that  the  territory  in  question  should  form 
a  part  of  Litchfield  County,  admitting  it  to  repre 
sentation  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  afterwards 
making  it  a  separate  county  named  Westmore 
land. 

In  all  these  affairs,  Trumbull,  governor  of  the 
colony  and  State,  was  of  course  chiefly  concerned. 
Johnson's  view  of  the  case  was  carefully  considered, 
and  acted  upon  so  far  as  action  was  possible  under 
the  circumstances,  until  at  last  it  appeared  neces 
sary  to  assert  jurisdiction  as  we  have  seen.  Another 
elaborate  document  from  Trumbull's  pen  is  the 
statement  of  this  case  prepared  by  him  to  be  sub 
mitted  to  counsel  in  London,  who,  to  the  number  of 
four,  gave  an  opinion  in  favor  of  Connecticut,  in 
opposition  to  the  opinion  which  Charles  Pratt, 
afterwards  Lord  Camden,  had  given  for  the  Penns, 
whose  counsel  he  was. 


CHAPTER  XI 

CONNECTICUT    AS     VIEWED     IN     LONDON  -  -  JOHNSON^ 

CALL    ON    LORD    HILLSBOROUGH  PETITION    AGAINST 

REVENUE    ACTS  -- BISHOPS    IN    AMERICA  — THE    FIVE 

PER    CENT.    DUTY    AND    THE  NEW    LONDON    AFFAIR  

—  THE     DUTY     REPEALED  —  TRUMBULL's     VIEWS     ON 
BRITISH    POLICY   AND    COLONIAL    INDEPENDENCE 

DURING  Johnson's  long  sojourn  in  London, 
the  policy  of  Connecticut  was  marked  by 
the  conservatism  which  she  had  practiced 
since  the  days  of  Andros  and  before.  She  was 
continually  striving  to  maintain  her  rights  to 
the  utmost,  and  to  attract  as  little  attention  as 
possible  in  so  doing.  The  more  insignificant  she 
appeared  to  the  home  government,  the  better. 
The  Mohegan  case  and  the  Susquehanna  case  had 
both  drawn  attention  to  her  in  London,  as  a  colony 
which,  if  not  litigious,  was  the  cause  of  litigation 
in  others.  These  cases  had  been  admirably  managed 
by  Johnson,  in  a  way  to  show  that  his  colony  was 
pursuing  an  honorable  defense  in  one  case,  and 
attempting  to  avoid  litigation  in  British  tribunals 
in  the  other.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that 
notwithstanding  all  precautions,  Connecticut  was 
closely  and  jealously  watched  by  the  King's  Council 
during  the  five  years  of  Johnson's  residence  in 

London. 

104 


JOHNSON  AND  HILLSBOROUGH   105 

Early  in  1768  Lord  Hillsborough  was  made 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  colonies.  Johnson  in  due 
time  made  a  call  upon  him,  congratulating  him  on 
his  appointment  to  this  high  office.  In  a  Jpng 
letter  to  Governor  Pitkin,  Johnson  fully  reports 
his  interview  with  Lord  Hillsborough,  who,  it 
seems,  found  some  things  to  criticize  regarding  the 
relations  of  Connecticut  to  the  Crown,  such  as  the 
lack  of  frequent  communication  with  his  Majesty's 
Ministers,  to  which  Johnson,  in  true  Connecticut 
fashion  replied,  that  "it  would  be  inexcusable  to 
take  up  their  attention  with  a  detail  of  no  conse 
quence."  Other  complaints  and  requests  he  answers 
with  similar  diplomacy.  He  closes  his  letter  to 
Governor  Pitkin  in  the  following  words : 

"This  was  the  substance,  or  rather  these  were 
the  subjects  (for  I  cannot  pretend  to  recite  all  that 
passed)  of  about  two  hours'  conversation  with  which 
his  Lordship  indulged  me.  I  must  do  him  the 
justice  to  say,  he  was  very  complaisant,  candid  and 
kind,  heard  with  attention,  replied  without  warmth, 
seemed  willing  to  know  the  true  state  of  things  in 
America,  and  expressed  great  desire  to  do  that 
country  service.  But  I  own,  I  gave  him  more 
credit  for  his  complaisance  than  for  his  sentiments, 
and  left  him  not  well  pleased  to  find  he  had  enter 
tained  such  ideas,  and  was  in  danger  of  such  opinions 
as  you  see,  from  the  tenor  of  his  conversation,  must 
at  least  have  made  some  impression  upon  him,  and 
been  revolving  in  his  mind  ever  since  he  was  at 
the  Board  of  Trade ;  nor  could  I  by  all  his  polite 
ness  be  induced  to  think  him  that  very  cordial 


106  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

friend  to  the  Colonies,  which  he  seemed  so  much  to 
wish  I  should  esteem  him  to  be." 

This  important  letter  of  Johnson's  covering  nearly 
twelve  large  octavo  printed  pages  was,  of  course, 
fully  discussed  in  the  Governor's  Council  of  which 
Trumbull  was  a  member,  and  must  have  been  very 
useful  to  that  Council  in  shaping  its  policy  towards 
the  home  government. 

Governor  Pitkin's  letter  of  the  following  June 
was  read  before  both  houses  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut,  and  adopted  by  vote,  presenting  to 
Johnson  the  arguments  of  the  colony  against  the 
Townshend  revenue  acts,  in  order  to  fortify  him 
in  his  arguments  with  Lord  Hillsborough  upon  the 
petition  presented  by  the  colony  to  the  king.  This 
petition  Johnson  faithfully  argued  with  Lord  Hills- 
borough,  but  could  not  overcome  that  gentleman's 
objections  to  petitions  to  the  king  rather  than  to 
Parliament,  and  the  assertion  of  colonial  rights 
rather  than  commercial  or  political  expediency. 

It  is  impossible  in  this  connection  to  give  more 
than  a  rather  vague  outline  of  what  was  taking 
place  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  so  far  as  Con 
necticut's  interests  were  concerned.  Before  Trum 
bull  was  made  governor  his  son  Joseph  received 
a  letter  from  Johnson,  speaking  of  certain  "in 
judicious  proceedings"  at  Lebanon,  for  which  he 
had  been  called  to  account  in  London,  which  pro 
ceedings  had  doubtless  something  to  do  with  the 
action  of  his  Majesty's  Collector  of  Customs  in 
the  enforcement  of  the  revenue  acts.  Speaking  of 
other  affairs,  Johnson  writes:  "Lord  Hillsborough's 


INTEREST  IN  COLONIAL  AFFAIRS    107 

questions  are,  I  doubt  not,  many  of  them  insidious 
enough,  and  it  will  be  right  to  meet  Ministerial 
art  with  American  prudence." 

The  first  letter  after  his  election  which  Governor 
Trumbull  writes  to  Johnson  encloses  copies  of  the 
answers  made  by  his  judicious  colony  to  Lord  Hills- 
borough's  insidious  questions  and  letters.  After 
this  time  the  letters  of  the  Governor  to  Johnson 
give  us  some  insight  into  the  studious  care  with 
which  Trumbull  watched  the  interests  of  the  colony 
whose  chief  executive  he  was;  and  give  us,  too, 
some  expression  of  his  broader  views  on  the  general 
subject  of  the  relations  between  the  colonies  and 
the  Mother  Country. 

His  watchful  interest  in  minor  affairs  which  might 
become  major  is  shown  by  the  following  paragraph 
from  his  next  letter  to  Johnson,  written  December 
12,  1769,  which  treats  mostly  of  the  details  of  the 
Mohegan  case,  but  shows  that  other  things  were 
to  be  thought  of:  -3 

"If  the  motion  for  a  Bishop  in  the  American 
Colonies  is  pushed,  I  trust  you  will  use  your  in 
fluence  to  prevent  his  having  authority  to  exercise 
spiritual  jurisdiction  over  such  who  are  not  pro 
fessors  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  secular 
powers  of  any  nature  or  kind  whatever." 

To  which  Johnson  replies  on  February  26,  1770: 

"It  is  not  intended,  at  present,  to  send  any 
bishops  into  the  American  Colonies;  had  it  been, 
I  should  certainly  have  acquainted  you  with  it; 
and  should  it  be  done  at  all,  you  may  be  assured, 
it  will  be  in  such  manner  as  in  no  degree  to  preju- 


io8  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

dice,  nor,  if  possible,  even  give  the  least  offence, 
to  any  denomination  of  Protestants.  It  has,  indeed, 
been  merely  a  religious,  and  in  no  respect  a  political 
design.  As  I  am  myself  of  the  Church  of  England, 
you  will  not  doubt  that  I  have  the  fullest  oppor 
tunity  to  be  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the 
steps  that  have  been  ever  taken  in  this  affair,  and 
you  may  rely  upon  it  that  it  never  was,  nor  is, 
the  intention,  or  even  wish,  of  those  who  have  been 
most  sanguine  in  the  matter,  that  American  bishops 
should  have  the  least  degree  of  secular  power  .  .  . 
much  less  any  manner  of  concern,  or  connection  with 
Christians  of  any  other  denomination,  nor  even  any 
power,  properly  so  called  over  the  laity  of  the  Church 
of  England." 

And  so  the  matter  of  American  bishops  rested 
until  the  days  of  Bishop  Seabury. 

Another  matter  which  threatened  more  serious 
consequences  occurred  in  the  early  days  of  Trum- 
bull's  administration.  Connecticut,  accustomed  as 
she  was  to  administer  her  own  affairs  under  the 
autonomy  granted  by  her  charter,  had  imposed  a  tax 
or  duty  of  five  per  cent,  upon  all  goods  sold  within 
her  borders  by  non-resident  merchants.  The  act 
imposing  this  duty  proved  to  be  a  boomerang  for 
this  independent  little  State;  for  while  she  was 
respectfully  appealing  to  the  Crown  for  the  main 
tenance  of  her  rights  in  the  matter  of  British  duties 
on  imports,  it  so  happened  that  in  the  enforcement 
of  her  own  five  per  cent,  tax,  she  was,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  collecting  for  her  own  treasury  duties 
on  imports  from  residents  of  the  British  Isles  who 


THE  NEW  LONDON  AFFAIR          109 

made  loud  complaints  of  the  exaction  on  the  return 
of  their  vessels  to  their  home  ports,  as  Johnson 
explained  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Trumbull  on 
December  5,  1769.  A  month  later  we  find  John 
son  quite  concerned  about  the  matter;  for  Lord 
Hillsborough  had  laid  a  complaint  on  the  subject 
before  the  Lords  of  Trade,  who  had  taken  the 
matter  under  advisement.  An  interview  with  Lord 
Hillsborough  was  far  from  satisfactory,  and  as 
Johnson  writes,  the  matter  "soon  became  very 
serious",  the  probable  outcome  being  that  the  act 
might  be  "declared  null  and  void  by  the  King  in 
Council,  or  the  Colony  be  enjoined  by  a  decree  of 
the  Lords  of  Council  to  repeal  it,  or  finally  that  it 
might  be  made  a  ground  of  an  act  of  Parliament 
obliging  the  Colony  in  future  to  send  home  all  their 
acts  for  the  royal  approbation  or  disallowance." 

At  the  time  of  the  first  complaint  regarding  this 
act,  matters  were  still  further  complicated  by  the 
report  of  an  "affair  at  New  London",  which  had 
reference,  no  doubt,  to  the  attempts  of  his  Maj 
esty's  Collector  of  Customs,  Duncan  Stewart,  to 
enforce  the  revenue  acts  of  Parliament  without  the 
aid  of  Writs  of  Assistance  which  Trumbull,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  refused  to  grant. 

On  receipt  of  Johnson's  letter  reporting  these 
complications  and  asking  for  full  information  in 
both  cases,  Trumbull  replies: 

"I  have  without  loss  of  time  procured  and  en 
closed  a  printed  copy  of  the  only  act  I  can  think 
to  be  meant.  The  grounds  of  it  are  that  many 
persons  not  inhabitants  of  the  Colony  transported 


no  JONATHAN   T RUM  BULL 

in  small  vessels  into  our  harbor,  rivers,  and  creeks, 
and  others  brought  in  by  land,  goods  and  mer 
chandise  to  sell  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony 
to  the  prejudice  of  our  own  merchants  and  shop 
keepers,  who  pay  taxes,  you  know,  to  the  public 
in  proportion  to  their  gains  and  returns;  when 
these  people,  who  reside  in  the  Colony  but  a  short 
time,  pay  nothing,  and  are  thereby  enabled  to 
undersell  our  own  fair  dealers;  that  many  such 
interlopers  are  men  of  little  or  no  integrity,  who 
often  impose  on  such  as  purchase  of  them. 

"It  is  therefore  judged  that  5  per  cent,  is  not 
more  than  equivalent  to  the  tax  paid  by  our  own 
dealers,  and  the  risk  of  imposition  run  by  pur 
chasers,  and  the  charge  of  collecting.  You  will 
see  by  the  terms  of  the  act,  that  British  goods  are 
not  distinguished;  indeed,  North  American  and 
West  India  merchandise  and  wares  are  equally 
liable  to  the  same  duty.  On  the  New  London 
affair,  not  having  in  my  hands  the  letters  from  the 
collector  of  customs  on  that  occasion,  can  only  say 
at  present  it  made  no  great  noise  here.  My  son, 
going  to  Hartford,  is  directed  to  get  and  enclose  a 
copy  of  it  for  your  use.  I  fancy  the  whole  will 
appear  of  no  great  consequence. " 

The  letter  also  mentions  a  similar  affair  at  New 
Haven,  never  reported  to  the  Governor  in  detail, 
but  believed  by  him  "to  be  inferior  to  what  hath 
been  usual  in  other  places,  both  in  that  country,  or 
in  this",  referring,  no  doubt,  to  recent  riots  in  Eng 
land  over  the  Wilkes  affair  and  other  matters. 

A  postscript  to  this  letter  of  Trumbull's  should 


THE  NEW  LONDON  AFFAIR          in 

not  pass  unnoticed,  showing  as  it  does  his  keen 
interest  in  home  affairs  and  in  the  results  of  non 
importation.  He  says,  "This  paper  I  write  on  is 
better  than  British  gilt.  It  is  the  manufacture  of 
our  own  Colony."  It  was,  no  doubt,  the  product 
of  Christopher  Leffingwell's  pioneer  paper  mill; 
and  we  may  imagine  that  it  was  very  gratifying 
to  the  Governor  to  find  that  when  Great  Britain 
imposed  a  tax  on  paper  Connecticut  could  avoid 
paying  the  tax  by  manufacturing  paper  of  her  own. 

Johnson,  no  doubt,  reported  to  Lord  Hillsborough 
the  substance  of  Trumbull's  letter  regarding  the 
New  London  affair,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  he 
succeeded  in  persuading  him  that  it  was  no  worse 
than,  if  as  bad  as,  sundry  riots  and  demonstrations 
which  were  continually  taking  place  in  England 
at  the  time.  In  the  more  important  matter  of  the 
five  per  cent,  duty,  he  succeeded  in  persuading 
Hillsborough  to  postpone  his  design  of  laying  it 
before  the  king  in  Council  until  the  General  As 
sembly  of  Connecticut  should  have  time  to  correct 
it  in  their  own  way,  or  repeal  it  should  they  see 
fit.  With  its  customary  prudence,  the  General 
Assembly  promptly  repealed  the  act  at  its  next 
session,  in  May,  1770,  thus  removing  a  danger 
which  threatened  those  charter  rights  which  had 
been  so  often  defended  and  protected  by  this  staunch, 
conservative  little  State.  The  matter  had  been, 
no  doubt,  laid  before  the  Governor's  Council  by 
Trumbull,  on  receipt  of  Johnson's  letter. 

Beyond  these  matters,  there  was  little  in  Lord 
Hillsborough's  watchful  scrutiny  which  brought 


ii2  JONATHAN   r RUM  BULL 

Connecticut  directly  before  the  home  government, 
either  for  counsel  or  reproof.  He  took  occasion 
to  condemn  the  course  of  the  colony  in  acting  on 
the  circular  letter  of  Massachusetts  by  sending  a 
petition  to  the  king  asking  the  repeal  of  the  revenue 
acts;  and  it  was  probably  with  no  little  satisfaction 
that  Trumbull  had  learned  from  a  previous  letter 
that  Hillsborough's  peremptory  order  to  Massa 
chusetts  to  rescind  her  circular  letter  had  been  met 
by  criticism  and  ridicule  in  Parliament. 

This  same  British  Parliament  as  a  legislative 
assembly  during  the  years  of  Johnson's  stay  in 
London  yields  the  most  interesting  feature  of  his 
many  and  faithful  letters  to  Governors  Pitkin  and 
Trumbull,  and  yields,  too,  a  study  of  an  inside 
view  of  the  vacillating  and  prejudiced  policy  of 
that  Parliament  towards  the  American  colonies, 
resulting,  as  such  a  policy  could  not  fail  to  result, 
in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution.  The  public 
threats  of  annulling  the  charters  of  all  the  colonies, 
the  proposed  restriction  of  American  manufac 
tures,  the  exclusion  of  the  colonists  from  the  whale 
fisheries,  the  revival  of  the  defunct  statute  of  Henry 
VIII  regarding  alleged  treason  committed  abroad, 
the  sacrifice  of  colonial  interests  to  political  maneu 
vering,  the  quartering  of  British  troops  on  the 
colonists,  —  all  these  matters  and  many  more  of 
almost  equal  importance,  Johnson  heard  discussed 
in  a  Parliament  containing  a  few  of  the  greatest 
statesmen  that  England  ever  called  her  own,  and 
a  majority  whose  subservience  to  a  narrow-minded, 
self-willed  king  completely  defeated  such  wise  meas- 


COLONIAL  AFFAIRS  113 

ures  as  these  great  statesmen  proposed.  All  these 
matters  he  faithfully  and  fully  reports  to  the  gover 
nors  of  Connecticut,  giving  to  Trumbull,  the  sur 
viving  one  at  the  close  of  the  correspondence,  a 
view  of  the  vacillating  and  mistaken  policy  of 
the  Mother  Country,  which  he  never  could  have 
gained  from  any  other  source.  On  learning  of 
Trumbull's  election  as  governor,  Johnson  writes 
on  February  5,  1770: 

"I  have  now  the  honor  of  yours  of  the  8th  of 
November,  and  beg  leave  to  repeat  my  hearty  con 
dolence  with  you  on  the  loss  the  Colony  has  sus 
tained  in  the  death  of  our  late  very  worthy  Gover 
nor,  and  to  rejoice  sincerely  with  you  and  the  Colony 
in  your  elevation  to  the  chief  command,  and  the 
happy  supply  of  the  vacancies  occasioned  thereby, 
in  consequence  of  which,  I  doubt  not,  the  affairs 
of  the  government  will  be  well  and  wisely  admin 
istered." 

Some  of  the  results  of  British  legislation  Trum 
bull  saw  more  particularly  in  the  neighboring  colony 
of  Massachusetts  before  Johnson's  return,  for  before 
that  time  the  affair  of  the  sloop  Liberty,  and  the 
Boston  Massacre  had  occurred.  We  have  seen 
already  in  a  letter  quoted  in  a  previous  chapter 
regarding  the  granting  of  Writs  of  Assistance, 
what  were  his  views  on  the  attitude  of  the  colonists 
toward  Great  Britain.1  As  time  went  on  these 
views  began  to  assume  still  more  definite  form  as 
the  result,  to  a  great  extent,  of  the  Johnson  corre 
spondence.  And  that  the  definite  form  which  these 

1  Pages  84  and  85. 


ii4  JONATHAN   T RUM  BULL 

views  assumed  looked  to  the  independence  of  the 
colonies  more  than  five  years  before  the  first  shot 
of  the  war  was  fired  at  Lexington,  may  be  as  plainly 
learned  from  the  following  extracts  of  his  letter 
to  Johnson  on  January  29,  1770,  as  it  is  learned 
in  the  case  of  Samuel  Adams  from  his  personal 
statement  a  year  or  so  earlier. 

Speaking    of  Johnson's    letter    of   September    18, 
Trumbull  says: 

"This  shows  us  the  fluctuating,  distracted  state 
the  nation  [England]  is  in;  the  difficulties  and  em 
barrassments  men  always  bring  on  themselves  when 
ever  they  forsake  the  old  paths  of  justice  and  equity 
and  attempt  to  establish  despotism;  the  danger  of 
embarking  deeply  with  any  party  while  both  are 
desirous  to  render  the  Colonies  effectually  useful 
and  subordinate  to  that  country,  that  they  may 
reap  all  the  fruits  of  our  labors,  and  conduct  all  our 
affairs  solely  with  a  view  to  their  own  emolument. 
Mutual  interests  alone  can  bind  the  Colonies  to 
the  mother  country.  When  those  interests  are 
separated,  each  side  must  assuredly  pursue  their 
own ;  and  that  side  can  use  but  one  fair,  honest  and 
effectual  way  to  prevent  detriment  from  this,  - 
which  is  to  maintain  our  mutual  connection  in 
interest,  to  encourage  our  raising  such  growth,  and 
making  such  manufactures,  as  will  not  prejudice 
their  own  in  any  degree  equal  to  the  advantage  they 
bring.  When  any  such  commodities  are  raised 
or  made,  they  ought  to  be  taken  off  our  hands,  or 
the  best  markets  pointed  out  to  us,  and  the  people 
ought  not  to  be  forced  to  find  out  other  markets 


LETTER   TO  JOHNSON  115 

by  stealth;  nor  the  trade  loaded  with  duties  and 
encumbered  with  officers  to  seek  out  our  vital 
blood,  with  no  other  benefit  to  the  mother  country 
or  to  this  than  that  of  taking  off  some  of  their  de- 
dependent,  wretched  sycophants  and  their  detestable 
tools.  This  country  has  long  been  accustomed  to 
industry  and  frugality,  and  when  they  see  others 
reap  the  largest  fruits  of  their  labors  to  uphold 
domination  over  them,  and  live  away  in  luxury 
among  them,  it  is  an  unsupportable  burden.  The 
old  path  is  the  safest,  and  change  cannot  be  made 
without  the  utmost  danger.  The  people  of  all  the 
Colonies,  excepting  officers  and  their  dependents, 
so  far  as  I  can  find,  are  firmly  united  for  the  main 
tenance  and  support  of  their  rights  and  privileges, 
—  unwilling  to  be  taxed  internally  or  commercially 
by  any  legislature  but  their  own,  or  to  have  any 
Commissioners  of  the  Customs  to  lord  it  over  them, 
or  drain  off  their  earnings." 

Going  on  to  speak  of  the  Mohegan  case  and  other 
matters,  he  resumes: 

"It  is  hard  to  break  connections  with  the  Mother 
Country;  but  when  she  tries  to  enslave  us,  and 
turn  all  our  labors  barely  to  her  own  emolument, 
without  considering  us  her  own  sons  and  free-born 
fellow  subjects,  the  strictest  union  must  be  dis 
solved.  This  is  our  consolation,  the  All-wise  Director 
of  all  events  will  bring  to  pass  his  own  designs  and 
works,  --to  whom  we  may  look  for  direction  in  this 
our  critical  situation/ 


CHAPTER  XII 

WAR    CLOUDS  COMMITTEE    OF    CORRESPONDENCE  

EXCITEMENT  INCREASES  TOWN  MEETINGS TREAT 
MENT         OF         TORIES FRANCIS         GREEN  ABIJAH 

WILLARD CAPTAIN         DAVIS  DOCTOR         BEEBE  

REVEREND       SAMUEL       PETERS  THE      CONTINENTAL 

CONGRESS 

THE  war  clouds  of  the  American  Revolution 
gathered  no  less  ominously  or  surely  in  Con 
necticut  than  in  those  neighboring  colonies 
in  which  they  showed  more  frequent  electric  flashes, 
as  in  the  affair  of  the  schooner  Gaspee  in  Rhode  Island, 
and  in  the  memorable,  epoch-making  Boston  Tea 
Party  in  Massachusetts.  The  British  revenue  sloop 
miscalled  the  Liberty  cruised  off  the  Connecticut 
coast,  detained  and  examined  many  merchantmen, 
and  was  called  a  pirate  for  her  pains  by  Nathaniel 
Shaw  of  New  London;1  but  conservatism  appears 
to  have  satisfied  itself  with  opprobrious  epithets  in 
private  correspondence  in  this  instance,  with  doubt 
less  less  provocation  to  more  violent  measures  than 
in  the  case  of  the  Gaspee.  This  same  conservatism, 
however,  stood  the  colony  in  good  stead,  by  making 
her  the  least  suspected  and  best  prepared  of  any  of 
the  colonies  when  the  time  came  for  facing  the  stern 
realities  of  war.  Her  scrupulous  adherence  to  the 

1  Miss  Caulkins'  "History  of  New  London",  p.  483.      (The  author  appears 
to  have  mistaken  the  sloop  Liberty  for  the  schooner  Gaspee.} 

116 


WAR  CLOUDS  117 

non-importation  agreement  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
encouraged  and  established  manufactures  within  her 
borders,  in  which  fact  we  have  seen  Governor 
Trumbull  expressing  his  satisfaction  by  letter  to 
William  Samuel  Johnson.  There  is  evidence  irf'  his 
business  correspondence,  too,  that  the  natural  re 
sources  and  manufacturing  possibilities  of  his  colony 
were  subjects  of  much  concern  to  him,  and  that  no 
man  realized  more  fully  than  he  the  disastrous  effects 
of  British  legislation  upon  these  vital  interests;  first 
by  the  proposed  restriction  of  manufactures,  and 
then  by  the  removal  of  duties  on  British  products 
which  competed  with  the  colonial  products  which 
the  Townshend  Act  especially  had  called  into  exis 
tence.  It  was,  no  doubt,  with  great  satisfaction 
that  the  Governor  signed  the  bill  allowing  to  Chris 
topher  Leffingwell  a  bounty  of  "twopence  the  quire" 
on  writing  paper  and  one  penny  on  other  paper  of 
his  manufacture  in  his  pioneer  mill.  The  Salisbury 
iron  mine  and  furnace,  too,  form  another  important 
item  of  interest  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  meas 
ures  were  taken  to  keep  the  control  of  this  important 
industry  within  the  limits  of  the  colony.  These 
and  similar  matters  engaged  much  of  the  Governor's 
time  and  attention  in  this  anxious  period. 

Still,  affairs  moved  on  in  apparent  quiet,  but 
every  movement  towards  securing  or  protecting  the 
liberties  of  the  country  received  the  hearty  and 
prompt  support  of  Connecticut.  At  the  May 
session  of  1773,  the  General  Assembly  appoints  a 
standing  "Committee  of  Correspondence  and  En 
quiry",  at  the  suggestion  of  Virginia.  Governor 


n8  JONATHAN   r RUM  BULL 

Trumbull's  eldest  son,  Joseph,  appears  as  one  of  the 
nine  members  of  this  committee,  thus  enabling 
him  to  keep  his  father  constantly  informed  of  the 
important  matters  on  which  the  colonies  were  then 
in  correspondence. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  a  potent  influence 
was  at  work  in  Connecticut  at  this  time  which  did 
not  exist  in  the  other  American  colonies  of  Great 
Britain,  and  that  just  for  this  reason  we  find  in 
Connecticut  fewer  outbreaks  of  violence  and  quieter 
and  more  effective  measures  of  preparation  for  the 
coming  struggle  than  in  the  other  colonies.  The 
influence  which  brought  about  these  results  was 
the  firm,  unswerving  and  outspoken  adherence  to 
the  principles  of  American  liberty  and  the  rights  of 
American  citizens  which  Governor  Trumbull  so 
freely  and  fully  manifested.  In  every  other  colony 
the  revolutionary  struggle  presented  a  twofold  strife: 
first,  against  a  royal  or  loyalist  governor,  and  second, 
against  the  oppressive  measures  of  King  George  III 
and  his  Parliament.  This  state  of  affairs  was  typified 
in  the  three  colonies  adjoining  Connecticut.  Massa 
chusetts  presents  to  view  a  pronounced  Loyalist  or 
Tory  in  the  case  of  Governor  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
and  a  Governor  sent  over  by  royal  commission  in 
the  case  of  Thomas  Gage,  who  succeeded  him.  In 
Rhode  Island,  Joseph  Wanton,  elected  like  Trum 
bull  to  the  governorship  in  1769,  proved  himself  so 
plainly  a  Tory  that  it  became  necessary  at  first 
to  suspend,  and  at  last  to  depose  him,  notwith 
standing  his  personal  popularity.  In  New  York  we 
find  in  William  Tryon  a  governor  who  was  not  a  son 


WAR  CLOUDS  119 

of  the  soil,  and  whose  position  as  a  royal  governor 
and  afterwards  a  raider  on  Connecticut  soil  won 
for  him  a  hatred  which  has  become  so  traditional 
that  it  is  difficult  to  give  a  hearing  to  a  recently 
published  defense  of  his  previous  severe  measures 
in  North  Carolina.  In  all  the  other  colonies  similar 
conditions  prevailed,  so  that  Connecticut,  through 
her  patriot  governor,  occupies  at  this  period  one  of 
those  unique  positions  which,  for  other  reasons,  she 
previously  and  subsequently  occupied  in  history. 

The  year  1774  was  a  busy  and  exciting  one  for 
the  Governor  and  his  Council.  It  opens  with  an 
adjourned  session  of  the  General  Assembly  on  the 
twelfth  of  January,  at  which  much  legislation  was 
in  progress;  and  places  upon  the  Governor  and  a 
committee  appointed  to  assist  him  the  new  and 
onerous  duty  of  adjusting  individual  claims  to 
lands  included  in  the  Susquehanna  claim  in  and 
about  the  newly  made  Connecticut  town  of  West 
moreland,  now  in  Pennsylvania.  The  object  of 
this  adjourned  session  appears  to  have  been  to  dis 
pose  of  as  much  unfinished  business  as  possible, 
in  order  to  leave  the  way  clear  for  such  action  as 
might  be  needed  in  view  of  the  alarming  state  of 
affairs  about  Boston,  where  Thomas  Gage  was  soon 
to  take  the  position  of  governor  by  royal  appoint 
ment,  and  where  he  was  soon  to  attempt  to  enforce 
the  famous  Port  Bill.  In  the  following  May  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  receives  from  Governor  Gage  a 
formal  announcement  of  his  appointment,  in  which 
he  gives  assurances  of  his  readiness  to  cooperate 
with  Governor  Trumbull  "in  all  matters  that  con- 


120  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

cern  the  good  of  his  Majesty's  service  and  the  wel 
fare  of  his  subjects."  l 

*As  time  goes  on  in  this  ominous  year  1774,  we 
find  the  sentiment  and  spirit  of  the  people  of  Con 
necticut  asserting  itself  in  bolder  public  utterances, 
and  sometimes  even  in  personal  threats  and  violence 
whenever  a  luckless  Tory  dares  to  give  utterance  to 
political  views  within  the  borders  of  the  colony. 

The  May  session  of  the  General  Assembly  opens 
with  a  series  of  resolutions  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  which,  while  declaring  allegiance  to 
George  III,  declare  also  the  rights  of  the  colony  in 
very  plain  and  unequivocal  terms;  denying  the 
right  of  the  British  Parliament  to  levy  taxes  in  the 
colonies  for  revenue,  and  asserting  that  "The 
only  lawful  representatives  of  the  freemen  of  this 
colony  are  the  persons  they  elect  to  serve  as  members 
of  the  General  Assembly  thereof."  With  this  clause 
as  a  keynote,  the  resolutions  take  up  the  Boston 
Port  Bill,  the  revival  of  the  obsolete  law  of  Henry 
VIII  for  transporting  colonists  to  England  for  trial 
on  certain  charges,  and  assert  that  all  legal  pro 
ceedings  are  only  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
courts  of  the  colony  itself.  These  resolutions  are 
finally  admitted  by  the  Upper  House  or  Gover 
nor's  Council  of  the  General  Assembly  to  form  a 
part  of  the  public  record  of  the  session.  This  ac 
tion  shows  quite  plainly  that  conservatism  is  on 
the  wane  in  Connecticut;  for  we  may  look,  but 
in  vain,  among  the  records  of  other  colonies  for 
any  bolder  declaration  of  rights. 

1  Force's  American  Archives,  4th  series,  vol.  i,  p.  344. 


TOWN  MEETINGS  121 

The  town  meetings,  too,  begin  at  this  time  to  speak 
with  no  uncertain  sound.  In  Farmington,  the  Port 
Bill  is  solemnly  burned  with  appropriate  cere 
monies  and  resolutions.  In  Norwich,  the  town 
meeting  adjourns  to  the  church  for  more  room,  a'nd 
with  the  Governor's  son  Joseph  as  secretary,  reso 
lutions  of  sympathy  and  aid  are  sent  to  Boston, 
followed  by  droves  of  sheep  to  the  number  of  three 
hundred  and  ninety-one  and  other  supplies.  In 
the  Governor's  native  town  of  Lebanon,  when  the 
Port  Bill  took  effect  on  the  first  of  June,  the  bell 
tolled  during  the  day,  and  the  "Town  house"  was 
draped  in  mourning.  In  Windham,  the  town  meet 
ing  closes  by  denouncing  the  citizens  of  Marble- 
head  who  had  presented  a  "fawning  address"  to 
Governor  Hutchinson  when  he  retired  from  office. 
The  General  Association  of  Congregational  Ministers 
of  Connecticut  presents  at  this  time  a  devout  and 
stirring  address  to  the  Congregational  clergy  of 
Boston,  assuring  them  of  sympathy  and  support. 

These  growing  sentiments  could  not  fail,  at  such 
a  time,  to  bring  about  a  few  instances  of  the  treat 
ment  which  Tories  might  expect  whenever  they  had 
the  hardihood  to  utter  their  unpopular  views,  or 
even  to  cross  the  Connecticut  border  from  other 
colonies.  The  first  recorded  instance  is  that  of 
Francis  Green,  a  merchant  from  Boston,  well  known 
as  one  of  the  signers  of  an  "adulatory  address  to 
strengthen  the  hands  of  that  parricidal  tool  of 
depotism",  Thomas  Hutchinson.  Green,  coming  on 
a  business  visit  to  Connecticut,  had  no  sooner  reached 
the  town  of  Windham  than  he  found  a  warm  recep- 


122  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

tion  on  the  fourth  of  July,  which  two  years  later 
was  to  become  the  Glorious  Fourth.  Threatened 
with  violence,  he  left  the  town  on  the  fifth,  at  the 
urgent  request  of  the  townsmen,  and  reaching  Nor 
wich  was  not  permitted  to  remain  there.  On  his 
return  to  Boston,  he  offered  a  reward  of  one  hundred 
dollars  for  such  information  as  would  lead  the 
offenders  to  be  convicted  within  the  province  of 
Massachusetts.  Green's  proclamation  caused  no 
small  mirth,  and  was  published  with  appropriate 
comments  in  the  newspapers  and  posted  in  the 
public  highways. 

The  sequel  to  this  case  which  most  concerns  us 
is  a  communication  from  Governor  Gage  to  Gover 
nor  Trumbull,  transmitting  affidavits,  and  requesting 
that  the  guilty  parties  in  Windham  and  Nor 
wich  be  speedily  brought  to  justice,  to  which  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  replies  that  others  "put  a  very 
different  face  on  the  transaction",  and  calls  Gage's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  "full  provision  is  made  by 
law  for  such  offences,  and  Mr.  Green  may  there 
obtain  the  satisfaction  his  cause  may  merit."1 
The  expedient  of  referring  such  complainants  to 
existing  courts  of  law  proved  to  be  in  this  as  in 
many  subsequent  cases  a  most  useful  one,  even 
though  there  appears  in  it  to  us,  and  possibly  ap 
peared  to  the  Governor,  a  touch  of  humor  if  not 
of  irony.  At  the  same  time,  such  a  course  was  no 
evasion  of  the  issue,  but  rather  the  only  legal  means 
of  meeting  it.  Engaged  as  he  was  at  this  time  in 
engrossing  public  duties,  he  needs  no  excuse  for  such 

1  Stuart's  "Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Sen.",  p.  152. 


TREATMENT  OF  TORIES          123 

treatment  of  private  complaints;  though  the  spec 
tacle  of  Mr.  Green  returning  to  Connecticut  for  a 
trial  of  his  case  in  the  courts  of  law  is,  in  imag 
ination,  quite  ludicrous,  in  view  of  his  previous  re 
ception.  ' 

Another  gentleman  from  Boston  whose  polit 
ical  principles  led  him  to  share,  or  more  than  share, 
the  fate  of  Mr.  Green,  was  Colonel  Abijah  Willard, 
a  member  of  Governor  Gage's  new  council,  who, 
as  a  contemporary  account 1  relates,  came  to  the 
town  of  Union  for  the  purpose  of  attending  to  some 
legal  business.  He  was  met  there  by  two  of  his 
attorneys  from  Windham,  who  "publickly  renounced 
him  and  his  cause,  and  refused  to  assist  him  any 
more,  as  they  looked  upon  him  as  a  traitor  to  his 
country."  He  was  thereupon  carried  to  Brimfield 
in  Massachusetts,  where,  from  about  four  hundred 
people,  a  council  was  formed  which  summarily 
decreed  that  he  should  be  taken  to  Simsbury,  and 
there  confined  in  the  Newgate  prison,  so  called. 
After  proceeding  about  six  miles  in  that  direction, 
he  agreed  to  take  an  oath,  expressing  his  regret  at 
his  official  position,  and  promising  to  serve  no 
longer  on  Governor  Gage's  council,  whereupon  he 
was  released;  but  one  Captain  Davis  of  Brimfield, 
who  protested  against  the  proceedings,  was  stripped 
and  given  "the  new  fashion  dress  of  tar  and  feathers." 

In  the  same  month  of  September  we  find  General 
Joseph  Spencer  writing  to  Governor  Trumbull  a 
letter  borne  to  him  by  Doctor  Beebe  of  East  Had- 
dam,  to  whom  the  "new  fashion  dress  of  tar  and 

1  Force's  American  Archives,  4th  series,  vol.  I,  p.  731. 


i24  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

feathers"  had  also  been  applied.  Doctor  Beebe 
had  applied  to  General  Spencer  "to  grant  a  surety 
of.  the  peace  against  a  few  of  the  ringleaders  in 
the  affair",  which  Spencer  declined  to  grant,  upon 
which  Doctor  Beebe  goes  to  Governor  Trumbull 
"for  advice  as  to  the  necessity  or  expediency  of 
his  prosecuting  in  this  case."  Spencer  also  asks 
the  Governor's  advice  as  to  his  own  duty  as  a  magis 
trate  in  the  matter,  and  informs  him  that  if  he 
should  issue  warrants  it  would  be  impossible  in  the 
state  of  affairs  then  existing  to  execute  them,  al 
though  the  violent  treatment  of  Doctor  Beebe 
was  something  of  which  he  did  not  approve.  It 
is  well  known  from  later  proclamations  that  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  also  strongly  condemned  such  acts 
of  violence,  though  he  well  knew,  in  view  of  the 
temper  of  the  people,  that  it  was  impossible  to 
punish  them.  We  are  only  left  to  imagine  that 
he  advised  Doctor  Beebe  to  refrain  from  irritating 
the  people  by  exhibiting  his  political  doctrines,  and 
showed  him  that  an  attempt  to  prosecute  the  offen 
ders  would  probably  only  result  in  renewed  vio 
lence,  which  he,  of  course,  deprecated,  and  wished 
to  do  all  in  his  power  to  prevent. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  even  the  day  of  fasting, 
humiliation  and  prayer  which,  by  the  Governor's 
solemn  and  devout  proclamation  had  been  appointed 
for  and  observed  on  the  thirty-first  of  August, 
failed  to  humble  the  spirits  of  some  of  the  people 
who  were  under  the  irritating  influence  of  Tory 
utterances.  This  same  month  of  September  wit 
nessed  in  another  portion  of  Connecticut  a  scene 


REVEREND  SAMUEL  PETERS         125 

which,  by  means  of  the  vivid  mendacity  of  the 
Reverend  Samuel  Peters,  has  become  historic,  and 
which  in  the  nature  of  the  case  formed  the  most 
important  of  the  numerous  violent  proceedings  of 
the  time.  Regarding  Peters  himself  Doctor^  J. 
Hammond  Trumbull,  one  of  the  most  accurate  and 
scholarly  of  investigators,  says: 

"The  best  excuse  that  can  be  made  for  him  is, 
that  he  was  a  victim  of  pseudomania;  that  his  ab 
horrence  of  truth  was  in  fact  a  disease,  and  that  he 
was  not  morally  responsible  for  its  outbreaks."  l 

Peters  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,  a  native  of  Hebron,  Connecticut,  but  strongly 
opposed  to  the  prevailing  sentiments  of  the  time, 
and,  according  to  his  own  story,  the  man  of  all 
others  who  by  his  eloquence  in  town  meeting  per 
suaded  the  people  of  Hebron  to  vote  by  a  large 
majority  against  sending  aid  or  supplies  to  Boston 
at  the  time  of  the  attempted  enforcement  of  the 
Port  Bill.  This  town  meeting  was,  according  to 
Peters'  account,  called  at  the  instigation  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull,  who  "sent  his  circular  to  every 
clergyman  in  the  colony,  requiring  it  to  be  read  on 
the  Sabbath-day  to  their  respective  congregations, 
and  to  urge  the  selectmen  to  warn  town  meetings 
to  appoint  a  general  contribution  for  the  support 
of  the  poor  people  in  Boston,  shut  up  to  starve 
by  General  Gage  and  Admiral  Graves." 2  There 
may  be  a  shadow  of  truth  in  this  statement,  for  we 

1The  True  Blue  Laws  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut,  p.  31. 
2  "The  Reverend  Samuel  Peters,  LL.D.      General  History  of  Connecticut." 
Edition  of  1877,  p.  262. 


iz6  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

find  among  the  Trumbull  papers  a  printed  form 
of  town  vote  for  the  relief  of  Boston,  March  8, 
1775  — some  six  months  after  the  attack  on  Peters 
—  with  a  form  of  subscription  in  Governor  Trum- 
bull's  handwriting,  to  be  used  by  the  people  of 
Lebanon.  That  the  Governor  "required"  his  cir 
cular  —  if  he  ever  issued  one  —  to  be  read  by  every 
clergyman  in  the  colony  to  their  congregations  we 
may  well  doubt. 

Peters  then  goes  on  to  state  that  Hartford,  follow 
ing  Hebron,  "unanimously  negatived  to  vote  for 
a  general  collection,  which  put  a  stop  to  the  town 
meetings  in  Connecticut,  to  the  disappointment  and 
mortification  of  Governor  Trumbull,  who  laid  the 
blame  on  the  influence  of  Dr.  Peters,  the  Episcopal 
clergyman  of  these  two  towns. 

"Hence  the  Governor  spread  the  report  that 
Doctor  Peters  was  a  dangerous  enemy  to  America, 
by  his  correspondence  with  Lord  North  and  the 
bishops  of  England,  and  ought  co  be  driven  out 
of  his  native  country  for  the  safety  of  it.  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  began  and  effected  this  by  his 
Windham  mobs,  and  the  mobs  of  the  tea-destroyers 
in  Boston  harbor." 

This  extract  is  taken  from  a  manuscript  of  Peters's, 
now  printed  in  an  appendix  to  his  "History  of 
Connecticut"  in  the  edition  of  1877.  It  is  given 
partly  as  a  specimen  of  Peters's  romantic  statements. 

The  visits  of  the  "Windham  mobs"  on  Peters 
were  two,  the  first  being  on  the  fourteenth  of  August 
and  the  other  on  the  sixth  of  September,  1774. 
At  the  first  visit  a  committee  of  ten  waited  on  him, 


REVEREND   SAMUEL  PETERS         127 

and  requested  his  papers.  This  committee  after 
wards  signed  an  affirmation  to  the  effect  that  they 
had  received  these  papers,  with  the  written  as 
surance  from  Peters  that  he  had  not  corresponded 
and  would  not  correspond  with  his  English  friends 
regarding  the  existing  state  of  affairs.  They  left 
him  without  injuring  him  in  any  way,  and  received 
his  thanks  for  their  treatment  of  him. 

Certain  statements  over  the  signatures  of  John 
Grou  and  John  Peters  regarding  this  visit  of  August 
fourteenth,  bear  such  unmistakable  marks  of  the 
literary  style  of  the  Reverend  Samuel  Peters  that  it 
must  be  inferred  that,  if  Grou  and  John  Peters  were 
not  men  of  straw,  the  statement  published  over 
their  names  was  composed  for  them  by  the  Reverend 
Samuel,  and  is  entitled  to  the  same  credit  as  other 
works  of  his  authorship. 

The  second  visit  to  Peters  on  the  sixth  of  Sep 
tember  came  much  nearer  to  serious  results.  The 
Bolton  Committee  of  Correspondence  had  caused 
his  so-called  "Resolves  of  the  Town  of  Hebron", 
to  which  the  committee  of  August  had  caused  him 
to  affix  his  name,  to  be  published  in  the  New  London 
Gazette.  These  Resolves  were  of  a  kind  hardly  to 
be  tolerated  at  the  time;  and  a  long  argument 
which  he  held  with  the  committee  on  this  second 
visit,  and  subsequently  with  the  entire  assembly, 
served  to  demonstrate  the  foolishness  of  preaching 
to  which  he  was  so  prone.  But  a  moving  cause  of 
disturbance  was  the  discharge  of  firearms,  during 
his  harangue,  in  Peters's  house,  which  upon  examin 
ation  proved  to  be  well  stocked  with  firearms,  am- 


128  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

munition,  swords  and  clubs,  though  he  had  as 
sured  the  committee  "that  he  had  no  arms  in  the 
house,  except  one  or  two  old  guns  out  of  repair." 
Notwithstanding  the  provocation,  the  inventory 
of  damage  by  the  mob  appears  to  have  been  the 
breaking  of  one  window  sash,  one  punch  bowl  and 
glass,  and  the  tearing  of  Mr.  Peters's  gown  and 
shirt  in  the  course  of  the  disturbance,  which  was 
at  last  quieted  by  the  signing  of  a  paper  which  the 
people  had  prepared  for  him,  whereupon  he  was 
released  from  the  custody  of  the  mob,  and  departed 
amidst  their  cheers,  accompanied  perhaps  by  jeers. 

Peters's  own  account  of  the  affair  reports  his 
rescue  from  the  mob,  of  whom  he  says  Governor 
Trumbull's  son  David  was  one  of  the  leaders,  by 
"three  bold  troopers"  of  Hebron,  who  said  to  the 
"commander"  of  the  mob,  "We  have  to  come  to 
kill  you,  or  deliver  Doctor  Peters.  Resign  him  or 
die!"  -placing  their  pistols  at  the  commander's 
breast.  They  said,  'Take  him  away  and  be  silent." 
They  then  instantly  led  him  away. 

The  only  account  we  have  of  his  visit  to  Governor 
Trumbull  on  the  following  day  is  from  Peters's 
own  hand,  and  in  a  strain  quite  similar  to  his  ac 
count  of  his  rescue  from  a  mob  of  three  hundred 
incensed  men  by  three  bold  troopers  of  Hebron. 
He  seems,  for  some  reason,  to  be  particularly  bitter 
in  his  mention  of  the  Governor  and  his  son  David, 
so  much  so  that  seven  years  later  there  was  published 
in  London  a  "History  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the 
Rebel  Governor",  which  Doctor  J.  Hammond  Trum 
bull  says  is  "evidently  from  the  pen  of  Peters."  1 

1  True  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  p.  32. 


REFEREND  SAMUEL  PETERS         129 

After  his  unpleasant  encounters  with  "Windham 
mobs",  Peters  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
Connecticut  was  too  hot  to  hold  him,  and  fled 
to  Boston,  where  through  marvellous  escapes  from 
his  pursuers,  which  rival  the  exploits  of  M>m- 
chausen,  he  sets  sail  for  the  more  congenial  clime 
of  England,  where  he  is  enabled  to  pursue  for  the 
rest  of  his  life  his  lying  fulminations  and  his  fairy 
stories  regarding  his  native  land. 

The  publication  in  London,  to  which  reference 
has  been  made,  appeared  in  The  Political  Maga 
zine  for  January,  1781,  and  is  of  such  a  virulent 
personal  character  that  a  few  extracts  must  be 
made  from  it  both  as  a  further  illustration  of  such 
utterances  as  those  of  Peters  and  as  a  specimen  of 
the  calumnies  to  which  the  Governor  was  subject 
at  about  this  time.  The  article  is  entitled  "His 
tory  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  present  Rebel 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  from  his  Birth,  early 
in  this  Century,  to  the  present  Day." 

After  describing  the  ancestry,  birth  and  early 
life  of  the  Governor  as  only  Peters  could  describe 
them,  the  article  goes  on  to  treat  of  his  marriage  in 
the  following  words: 

"No  sooner  had  Jonathan  taken  his  degree, 
than  he  became  a  preacher  in  an  independent  way, 
and  was  esteemed  to  be  a  man  of  grace;  but  having 
a  bad  delivery,  he  could  not  obtain  a  parish.  How 
ever,  his  politeness,  apparent  goodness,  and  address, 
recommended  him  to  Miss  Robinson,  a  descendant 
of  the  famous  Reverend  Mr.  Robinson,  head  of  a 
Sect  both  in  Old  and  New  England.  His  marriage 


130  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

with  this  Lady,  whose  father  was  a  burning  and 
shining  light  among  the  independents  and  children 
of  the  regicides,  who  settled  in  New  England, 
raised  him  from  obscurity  to  a  state  of  nobility, 
for  all  who  had  any  blood  in  their  veins  of  the  first 
settlers,  or  of  the  regicides,  are  considered  in  New 
England  as  of  the  rank  of  the  Noblesse.  Mr.  Jona 
than's  matrimonial  connection  giving  him  the  pros 
pect  of  preferment  in  civil  life,  he  bid  adieu  to  the 
pulpit,  and  commenced  merchant." 

After  accusing  him  of  dishonesty  in  business, 
and  intolerance  in  religion,  the  four  and  a  half 
closely  printed  pages  contain  the  following  personal 
description:  - 

"  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the  Rebel  Governor  of 
Connecticut,  a  man  of  desperate  fortune,  with  an 
abundant  share  of  cunning,  is  about  five  feet,  seven 
inches  high,  has  dark  eyes,  a  Roman  nose,  sallow 
countenance,  long  chin,  prominent  forehead,  high 
and  broad  cheek  bones,  hollow  cheeks  and  short 
neck  —  in  person  of  a  handsome  figure  and  very 
active  —  now  [1781]  between  70  and  80  years  of 
age.  He  is  morose  in  his  natural  temper,  reserved 
in  his  speech,  vain  and  covetous,  envious  and 
spiteful  to  a  great  degree,  never  forgiving  or  for 
getting  an  affront.  He  is  at  the  same  time  very 
artful;  he  will  smile  in  the  face  of  those  he  hates, 
and  court  their  friendship  at  the  very  moment  he  is 
endeavoring  by  every  means  in  his  power  to  effect 
their  ruin.  As  to  justice,  he  never  had  an  idea  of 
it;  at  least  he  never  showed  any  in  practice ;  always 
judging  according  to  a  party  spirit,  which  ever 
domineered  in  his  merciless  soul.' 


DELEGATES   TO  CONGRESS  131 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  description 
of  the  Governor's  personal  appearance  is  more 
accurate  than  most  of  Peters's  utterances,  for  the 
reason  that  a  price  had  been  set  on  the  Governor's 
head,  which  price  Peters  was  particularly  anxious 
that  some  enterprising  detective  might  earn. 

In  the  following  December,  Governor  Trumbull 
issued  a  proclamation  in  which  he  refers  to  the 
affair  of  Doctor  Peters,  and  prohibits  violent  pro 
ceedings  such  as  we  have  noted  in  this  and  similar 
cases,  not  forgetting  to  speak  of  "the  threatening 
aspect  of  Divine  Providence  on  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  People."  In  view  of  the  possible 
effect  of  the  report  which  Peters  might  make  in 
England  of  his  own  treatment  and  of  the  rebellious 
attitude  of  the  colony,  the  Governor  prepared  a 
full  statement  of  the  case,  doubtless  for  transmission 
to  the  agent  of  Connecticut  residing  in  London. 
This  statement  closes  with  the  following  paragraph: 

"Mr.  Peters's  religious  sentiments,  his  being  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  England  and  a  clergy 
man,  were  not  the  reasons  of  these  transactions. 
Some  men  who  were  present  were  of  the  same  de 
nomination,  and  dissatisfied  with  him  as  well  as  the 
others.  Had  he  been  of  any  other  denomination 
in  religious  sentiments,  his  treatment  would  doubt 
less  have  been  the  same." 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  Committee  of  Cor 
respondence  had  met  at  New  London,  in  July 
of  this  year,  and  by  authority  of  the  General  As 
sembly  had  appointed  Silas  Deane,  Eliphalet  Dyer 
and  Roger  Sherman  delegates  to  the  first  Continental 


132  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Congress,  a  proceeding  vitally  interesting  to  the 
Governor,  as  appears  by  his  correspondence  with 
these  delegates  during  the  session.  The  fact  that 
his  son  Joseph  had  been  appointed  an  alternate  in 
this  Congress  for  Roger  Sherman,  who  was  able  to 
act  as  a  delegate,  added  to  the  Governor's  interest 
in  this  memorable  body,  and  showed  the  confidence 
of  the  people  in  him  and  his  family. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

1775  — TRUMBULL     AT     THE     AGE     OF     SIXTY-FIVE  — 

PREPARATIONS    FOR    WAR EXTRA    SESSION    OF    THE 

GENERAL     ASSEMBLY  --  ROYAL     MEASURES     TO      PRE 
VENT    A    SECOND    SESSION    OF    THE    CONTINENTAL 
CONGRESS  —   TRUMBULL'S  LETTER  TO  THE  EARL  OF 
DARTMOUTH 

GOVERNOR  TRUMBULL,  now  a  man  of 
sixty-five,  enters  at  this  advanced  stage 
of  his  life  upon  the  supreme  period  of 
his  career.  Instead  of  relaxing  his  energies,  as 
might  be  expected,  he  redoubles  them,  devoting 
to  the  cause  of  American  freedom  in  self-forgetful 
and  self-sacrificing  patriotism  the  wise  experience 
gained  in  forty  years  of  public  life.  This  experience 
is  made  effective  by  the  inbred  Puritan  vigor  of 
his  ripe  manhood.  Puritan  principles  underlie  and 
inform  his  actions.  His  intelligence  and  benevolence 
carry  him  far  beyond  the  narrow  bounds  of  bigotry 
and  intolerance.  His  views  of  government  look 
constantly  to  the  great,  wise  and  just  provisions  of 
the  Supreme  Ruler,  whose  laws  and  ways  of  govern 
ment  have  been  the  constant  study  of  his  life. 
Such  infraction  of  those  laws  and  ways  as  he  has 
seen  for  ten  years  or  more  in  the  vacillating,  but 
always  unjust  and  oppressive  policy  of  Great  Britain 
towards  her  American  colonies  fill  him  with  grow 
ing  abhorrence.  His  sole  belief  and  sole  trust  is 

133 


134  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

in  the  righteousness  of  his  country's  cause.  This 
abiding ,  principle,  animated  and  actuated  by  his 
inbred  and  inborn  love  of  country,  formed  the  in 
spiration  for  his  course;  and  we  are  now  to  see  how 
he  worked  under  this  inspiration. 

The  year  1775  shows  at  its  beginning  active  prep 
arations  for  the  military  organization  and  equip 
ment  of  Connecticut.  The  Governor's  son  Joseph 
writes  from  Windham  to  his  father  on  December  30, 
1774,  urging  the  immediate  purchase  of  ammuni 
tion  before  the  harbors  of  the  coast  are  blockaded 
with  British  vessels  to  prevent  the  landing  of  it. 
The  Governor  at  once  calls  his  Council  together  at 
Hartford,  where  it  is  voted  on  the  fourth  of  Jan 
uary  to  direct  the  Treasurer  of  the  colony  to  pro 
cure  three  hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder,  fifteen 
tons  of  lead,  and  sixty  thousand  good  flints.  On 
the  fifth  a  proclamation  is  issued  from  the  council 
chamber  appointing  a  fast  on  the  first  day  of  the 
coming  February.  Thus  did  the  Governor  show  his 
trust  in  Divine  Providence  and  his  belief  in  our 
present-day  aphorism,  "God  helps  those  who  help 
themselves."  Roger  Sherman  in  the  following  month 
procures  a  portion  of  this  ammunition  from  New 
York;  and  measures  are  taken  to  import  powder, 
some  of  which  arrived  at  New  London  in  the  follow 
ing  April.  The  towns  had  been  ordered,  too,  by 
the  General  Assembly  at  the  October  session  of 
1774  to  provide  double  the  quantity  of  powder, 
balls  and  flints  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  re 
quired  by  law. 

This  same  October  session  had  adjourned  until 


EXTRA  SESSION  OF  ASSEMBLY     135 

such  time  as  the  Governor  "should  see  cause  to 
call  it  to  meet  again."  In  the  following  March 
he  evidently  saw  cause,  for  a  session  was  catted  at 
New  Haven  for  that  month  "by  adjournment  and 
special  order  of  the  Governor."  Many  military 
commissions  are  granted,  new  military  companies 
formed,  and  some  naval  affairs  regulated.  The 
docket  is  also  cleared  of  civil  business.  Other 
business  of  a  kind  new  to  this  Assembly  figures 
prominently  in  this  session.  It  is  evident  that  the 
Governor,  in  his  earnest  desire  to  prevent  such 
violent  treatment  of  Tories  as  we  have  seen  in  the 
previous  year,  had  determined  to  refer  all  com 
plaints  and  information  regarding  them  to  the 
General  Assembly,  to  be  legally  and  regularly  dealt 
with. 

The  wisdom  of  this  course  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  but  one  report  can  be  found  during  this 
momentous  year  of  a  case  in  which  the  people 
took  matters  into  their  own  hands,  and  this  cannot 
be  called  a  case  in  which  personal  violence  was  used. 
At  the  same  time,  after  the  ajournment  of  the  first 
Continental  Congress  in  October,  1774,  the  Tory 
element  in  the  western  parts  of  Connecticut  pro 
nounced  itself  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause,  perhaps, 
some  concern,  and  certainly  much  indignation. 
The  individual  cases  of  Abraham  Blackslee  of 
New  Haven,  captain  of  a  military  company;  of 
Isaac  Quintard  and  Filer  Dibble  of  Stamford,  also 
captains,  are  duly  referred  to  committees  with 
instructions  to  report  at  the  next  session  regarding 
the  charges  of  Toryism  against  them. 


136  JONATHAN   TRmiBULL 

The  town  of  Ridgefield,  little  dreaming  that  in 
two  years  one  of  the  fiercest  fights  of  the  Revolu 
tion  within  the  borders  of  Connecticut  would  take 
place  on  her  soil,  voted  in  town  meeting  on  the 
sixth  of  February,  among  other  things,  "That  it 
would  be  dangerous  and  hurtful  to  the  inhabitants 
of  this  Town  to  adopt  said  [Continental]  Con 
gress's  measures,  and  we  hereby  publickly  disap 
prove  of,  and  protest  against  said  Congress,  and 
the  measures  by  them  directed,  as  unconstitutional, 
as  subversive  of  our  real  liberties,  and  as  countenanc 
ing  licentiousness."  Newtown  soon  after  adopted 
similar  resolutions.  With  these  two  cases  the 
General  Assembly  thus  deals: 

"It  being  represented  to  this  House,  that  the 
towns  of  Ridgefield  and  Newtown  have  come  into  and 
published  certain  resolutions  injurious  to  the  rights 
of  this  Colony,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  reported 
resolves  of  this  House,  and  of  dangerous  tendency: 

"Resolved;  that  Colo.  Joseph  Platt  Cook,  and 
Colo.  John  Read  be  a  committee  to  enquire  into  the 
truth  of  said  representation,  and  how  far  any  person 
or  persons  holding  commissions  under  the  govern 
ment  have  been  any  ways  active  or  concerned  in 
promoting  the  measures  taken  by  said  towns;  and 
report  make  of  what  they  shall  find  to  the  General 
Assembly  to  be  held  at  Hartford  May  next." 

The  records  are  silent  regarding  the  reports  of 
this  committee,  nor  was  any  action  apparently  taken 
regarding  resolutions  published  later  in  Rivington's 
Gazette  by  the  Reading  Association,  and  still  later 
by  New  Milford,  all  denouncing  the  Continental 


ROYAL  MEASURES  137 

Congress.  Before  the  May  session  at  which  the 
committee  was  to  report,  the  Lexington  alarm  had 
spread  through  Connecticut,  and  was  far  more 
effective  than  any  legislation  in  exterminating  such 
sporadic  cases  of  Toryism  as  those  just  referred  to. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  by 
command  of  the  king  had  issued  to  each  colonial 
governor  in  America  the  royal  mandate  by  which 
it  was  expected  that  a  second  Continental  Congress 
would  be  prevented,  enjoining  upon  Trumbull,  as 
on  all  the  governors,  to  use  his  utmost  endeavors 
"to  prevent  the  appointment  of  deputies,  and  to 
exhort  all  persons  to  desist  from  such  an  unjusti 
fiable  proceeding." 

This  order  was  doubtless  summarily  disposed  of 
in  the  Governor's  council.  Certain  it  is  that  no 
thought  of  complying  with  it  existed  in  the  mind  of 
the  Governor  or  of  any  member  of  this  body,  and 
certain  it  is  that  Connecticut  sent  her  full  quota 
of  representatives  to  the  second,  as  to  the  first 
Continental  Congress.  The  time  had  come,  how 
ever,  to  inform  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  of  the  posi 
tion  of  Connecticut  in  the  then  existing  critical 
state  of  affairs,  and  upon  Governor  Trumbull  fell 
the  duty  of  addressing  a  letter  to  the  noble  Earl. 
This  letter  was  sent  by  vote  of  the  General  Assembly, 
having  been  regularly  approved  by  vote  of  both 
houses,  with  the  request  that  it  be  transmitted 
"to  his  Lordship  as  soon  as  opportunity  will  permit." 
The  only  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  records 
regarding  it  is  that  the  Governor,  finding  it  a  matter 
of  official  courtesy  to  write  to  the  Earl  of  Dart- 


138  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

mouth,  found  the  matter  of  such  importance  that 
he  deemed  it  necessary  to  submit  the  draft  of  his 
letter  to  the  General  Assembly,  in  accordance  with 
a  long  established  custom.  This  letter  forms  such 
a  striking  example  of  the  Governor's  official  cor 
respondence  that  it  seems  best  to  reproduce  it 
here  in  full,  although  it  is  to  be  found  in  print  in 
numerous  publications  : 

"New  Haven,  March,  1775. 

"My  Lord:  I  duly  received  your  Lordship's  letter 
of  the  loth  of  December  last,  enclosing  his  Most 
Gracious  Majesty's  speech  to  his  Parliament  and 
the  addresses  in  answer  thereunto,  which  I  have 
taken  the  earliest  opportunity  to  lay  before  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Colony,  and  am  now  to 
return  you  their  thanks  for  this  communication. 

"It  is,  my  Lord,  with  the  deepest  concern  and 
anxiety  that  we  contemplate  the  unhappy  dissen 
sions  which  have  taken  place  between  the  Colonies 
and  Great  Britain,  which  must  be  attended  with 
the  most  fatal  consequences  to  both,  unless  speedily 
terminated.  We  consider  the  interests  of  the  two 
countries  as  inseparable,  and  are  shocked  at  the 
idea  of  any  disunion  between  them.  We  wish  for 
nothing  so  much  as  a  speedy  and  happy  settlement 
upon  constitutional  grounds,  and  cannot  apprehend 
why  it  might  not  be  effected  if  proper  steps  were 
taken.  It  is  certainly  an  object  of  that  importance 
as  to  merit  the  attention  of  every  wise  and  good 
man,  and  the  accomplishment  of  it  would  add 
lustre  to  the  first  character  upon  earth. 


LETTER   TO  EARL  OF  DARTMOUTH    139 

"The  origin  and  progress  of  these  unhappy  dis 
putes  we  need  not  point  out  to  you:  they  are 
perfectly  known  to  your  Lordship.  From  apprehen 
sions  on  one  side,  and  jealousies,  fears  and  dis 
tresses  on  the  other,  fomented  and  increased  by  the 
representations  of  artful  and  designing  men,  un 
friendly  to  the  liberties  of  America,  they  have 
risen  to  that  alarming  height  at  which  we  now  see 
them,  threatening  the  most  essential  prejudice,  if 
not  entire  ruin,  to  the  whole  Empire.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  do  assure  your  Lordship  that  we  do  not 
wish  to  weaken  or  impair  the  authority  of  the 
British  Parliament  in  any  matters  essential  to  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  whole  Empire.  On 
the  other,  it  will  be  admitted  that  it  is  our  duty, 
and  that  we  should  be  even  highly  culpable,  if  we 
should  not  claim  and  maintain  the  constitutional 
rights  and  liberties  derived  to  us  as  men  and  English 
men;  as  the  descendants  of  Britons  and  members  of 
an  Empire  whose  fundamental  principle  is  the 
liberty  and  security  of  the  subject.  British  suprem 
acy  and  American  liberty  are  not  incompatible 
with  each  other.  They  have  been  seen  to  exist 
and  flourish  together  for  more  than  a  century. 
What  now  renders  them  inconsistent?  Or,  if  any 
thing  be  further  necessary  to  ascertain  the  one  and 
limit  the  other,  why  may  it  not  be  amicably  ad 
justed,  every  occasion  and  ground  of  future  con 
troversy  be  removed,  and  all  that  has  unfortunately 
passed  be  buried  in  perpetual  oblivion? 

"The  good  people  of  this  Colony,  my  Lord,  are 
unfeignedly  loyal  and  firmly  attached  to  his  Maj- 


140  JONATHAN   TRIM  BULL 

esty's  person,  family  and  government.  They  are 
willing  and  ready  freely  as  they  have  formerly 
most  cheerfully  done  upon  every  requisition  made 
to  them,  to  contribute  to  the  utmost  of  their  abili 
ties  to  the  support  of  his  Majesty's  government, 
and  to  devote  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  his  serv 
ice;  and  in  the  last  war  did  actually  expend  in 
his  Majesty's  service  more  than  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds  sterling  beyond  what  they  re 
ceived  any  compensation  for.  But  the  unlimited 
powers  lately  claimed  by  the  British  Parliament 
drove  them  to  the  borders  of  despair.  These  powers, 
carried  into  execution,  will  deprive  them  of  all 
property,  and  are  incompatible  with  every  idea  of 
civil  liverty.  They  must  hold  all  they  possess 
at  the  will  of  others,  and  will  have  no  property 
which  they  can,  voluntarily  and  as  freemen,  lay 
at  the  foot  of  the  throne  as  a  mark  of  their  affec 
tion  and  devotion  to  his  Majesty's  service. 

"Why,  my  Lord,  should  our  fellow-subjects  in 
Great  Britain  alone  enjoy  the  high  honor  and  satis 
faction  of  presenting  their  free  gifts  to  their  Sover 
eign  ?  Or  if  this  be  a  distinction  in  which  they  will 
permit  none  to  participate  with  them,  yet,  in  point 
of  honour,  it  should  be  founded  on  the  gift  of  their 
own  property,  and  not  of  that  of  their  fellow-sub 
jects  in  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  Empire. 

"It  is  with  particular  concern  and  anxiety  that 
we  see  the  unhappy  situation  of  our  fellow-subjects 
in  the  town  of  Boston  in  the  Province  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  where  we  behold  many  thousands 
of  his  Majesty's  virtuous  and  loyal  subjects  re- 


ro  EARL  OF  DARTMOUTH  141 

duced  to  the  utmost  distress  by  the  operation  of 
the  Port  Act,  and  the  whole  Province  thrown  into 
a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion  by  the  Act  for 
changing  the  constitution  of  the  Province  and 
depriving  them  of  some  of  their  charter  rights.  We 
are  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  the  destruction  of  the 
East  India  Company's  tea  could  be  a  just  or  rea 
sonable  ground  for  punishing  so  severely  thousands 
of  innocent  people  who  had  no  hand  in  that  transac 
tion,  and  that  even  without  giving  them  any  op 
portunity  to  be  heard  in  their  own  defence. 

"Give  us  leave  to  recommend  to  your  Lordship's 
most  serious  and  candid  attention  the  unhappy 
case  of  that  distressed  people,  and  in  effect  of  all 
the  Colonies,  whose  fate  seems  to  be  involved  in 
theirs,  and  who  are  therefore  most  anxiously  dis 
tressed  for  them.  Permit  us  to  hope  that  by  your 
Lordship's  kind  and  benevolent  interposition,  some 
wise  and  happy  plan  will  be  devised,  which  may 
relieve  us  from  our  present  anxieties  and  restore 
that  harmony  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
Colonies  which  we  all  most  ardently  wish  for,  and 
which  alone  can  render  us  truly  happy. 

"I  am,  my  Lord,  in  behalf  of  the  Governor  and 
Company  of  Connecticut,  my  Lord,  your  Lord 
ship's  most  obedient  and  humble  servant." 

Thus,  in  earnest  endeavor  honorably,  reasonably 
and  peacefully  to  regain  the  rights  of  his  people, 
did  the  Governor  labor  to  the  utmost,  hoping  that 
success  might  attend  his  efforts. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE  LEXINGTON  ALARM  --  EMBASSY  TO  GENERAL 
GAGE  — TREATMENT  CF  THE  AMBASSADORS  BY  MASSA- 
CHVSETTS  —  DIFFERENCES  SETTLED  —  PREFARA- 

TICNS    FOR    V.'AR 

THE  extra  sessi,-::  cf  the  General  Assembly 
adjourned  on  the  tenth  of  March,  to  meet 
again  on  the  thirteenth  of  April  "unless 
the  Governor,  or  in  his  absence  the  Deputy 
Governor  shall  see  cause  to  give  notice  that  the 
public  business  of  the  Colony  does  not  require  the 
convention  of  the  Assembly  at  that  time."  Such 
notice  the  Governor  must  have  given,  to  be  fol- 
l:-.ved  :v  an  entirely  dinerent  notice  but  a  few 
days  later,  when  the  Lexington  alarm  reached 
Connecticut,  spreading  like  wildfire  from  town  to 
town,  and  reaching  the  Governor  on  the  twentieth. 
Just  how  or  where  it  reached  him.  it  is  impos 
sible  to  say  in  the  absence  of  contemporary 
records  and  in  the  presence  of  many  conflicting 
accounts,  all  apparently  based  on  varying  tradi 
tions  or  theories.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  news 
of  the  Lexington  fight  reached  him  promptly, 
either  carried  to  him  by  Israel  Putnam  from 
Brooklyn  to  Lebanon,  or  by  some  other  swift 
rider  reaching  Norwich,  where  one  account  says 
the  Governor  received  the  news.  Connecticut  men 
hurried  at  once  to  the  front  on  receipt  of  the  news. 


THE  LEXIXGTOX  ALARM  143 

in  companies  and  squads,  without  organization,  and 
without  waiting  for  orders;  to  return  in  a  few  days 
to  join  or  give  place  to  the  organized  force  for  A^hich 
the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  was  call 
ing.  News  comes  from  Putnam  under  date  of  the 
twenty-first  that  six  thousand  men  are  expected 
from  Connecticut  "to  be  at  Cambridge  as  speedily  as 
possible."  The  Governor  calls  a  special  meeting 
of  the  General  Assembly  for  the  twenty-sixth  of 
April,  which  was  doubtless  as  soon  as  a  full  session 
could  convene  at  Hartford  hi  those  days  of  slow 
communication  and  transportation. 

What  may  have  been  the  message  or  address  of 
the  Governor  to  this  session  we  shall  probably  never 
know.  That  it  was  a  message  unswerving  in  its 
adherence  to  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  that 
its  words  were  the  words  of  patriotism  tempered 
by  wisdom,  we  may  be  sure. 

The  first  action  of  the  session,  after  some  unim 
portant  military  regulations,  and  the  more  im 
portant  placing  of  an  embargo  upon  the  exportation 
of  provisions  needed  for  the  army,  was  to  appoint 
William  Samuel  Johnson  and  Erastus  Wolcott  to 
"wait  upon  his  Excellency  Governor  Gage  with  the 
letter  written  to  him  by  his  honour  our  Governor 
by  the  desire  of  this  Assembly,  and  confer  with 
him  on  the  subject  contained  in  said  letter  and  re 
quest  his  answer." 

This  action  was  probably  upon  the  motion  of 
Roger  Sherman,  as  the  resolve  is  in  his  handwriting. 
How  far  the  Governor  may  have  been  instrumental 
in  this  movement  it  is  impossible  to  say.  His  letter 


144  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

of  the  previous  month  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth 
so  "far  met  the  approval  of  the  General  Assembly 
that  the  policy  of  appeal  to  the  highest  authorities 
seemed  still  the  proper  policy  for  Connecticut,  in 
which  colony  there  still  lingered  that  traditional 
conservatism  which  was  soon  to  disappear  in  work 
for  the  common  cause.  Governor  Trumbuirs  letter 
to  Gage  reads  as  follows: 

" Hartford,  April  28,  1775. 

"Sir:  The  alarming  situation  of  publick  affairs 
in  this  country,  and  the  late  unfortunate  transac 
tions  in  the  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay, 
have  induced  the  General  Assembly  of  this  Colony, 
now  sitting  in  this  place,  to  appoint  a  committee 
of  their  body  to  wait  upon  your  Excellency,  and 
to  desire  me,  in  their  name,  to  write  to  you  rela 
tive  to  those  very  interesting  matters. 

"The  inhabitants  of  this  Colony  are  intimately 
connected  with  the  people  of  your  Province,  and 
esteem  themselves  bound  by  the  strongest  ties  of 
friendship,  as  well  as  of  common  interest,  to  regard 
with  attention  whatever  concerns  them.  You  will 
not,  therefore,  be  surprised  that  your  first  arrival 
at  Boston  with  a  body  of  his  Majesty's  troops,  for 
the  declared  purpose  of  carrying  into  execution 
certain  acts  of  Parliament,  which,  in  their  apprehen 
sion,  were  unconstitutional  and  oppressive,  should 
have  given  the  good  people  of  this  Colony  a  very 
just  and  general  alarm.  Your  subsequent  proceed 
ings  in  fortifying  the  town  of  Boston,  and  other 
miltary  preparations,  greatly  increased  their  ap- 


LETTER  TO  GENERAL  GAGE     145 

prehensions  for  the  safety  of  their  friends  and  breth 
ren.  They  could  not  be  unconcerned  spectators 
of  their  sufferings  in  what  they  esteemed  the  common 
cause  of  this  country;  but  the  late  hostile  and 
secret  inroads  of  some  of  the  troops  under  your 
command  into  the  heart  of  the  country,  and  the 
violences  they  have  committed,  have  driven  them 
almost  to  a  state  of  desperation.  They  feel  now, 
not  only  for  their  friends,  but  for  themselves  and 
their  dearest  interest  and  connections. 

"We  wish  not  to  exaggerate:  we  are  not  sure  of 
every  part  of  our  information,  but  by  the  best  in 
telligence  that  we  have  yet  been  able  to  obtain, 
the  late  transaction  was  a  most  unprovoked  attack 
upon  the  lives  and  property  of  his  Majesty's  sub 
jects;  and  it  is  represented  to  us  that  such  out 
rages  have  been  committed  as  would  disgrace  even 
barbarians,  and  much  more  Britons,  so  highly 
famed  for  humanity  as  well  as  bravery. 

"It  is  feared,  therefore,  that  we  are  devoted  to 
destruction,  and  that  you  have  it  in  command  and 
intention  to  ravage  and  desolate  the  country. 
If  this  is  not  the  case,  permit  us  to  ask,  why  have 
these  outrages  been  committed?  Why  is  the  town 
of  Boston  now  shut  up?  To  what  end  are  all  the 
hostile  preparations  that  are  daily  making?  And 
why  do  we  continually  hear  of  fresh  destinations 
of  troops  to  this  country  ?  The  people  of  this  Colony, 
you  may  rely  upon  it,  abhor  the  idea  of  taking  up 
arms  against  the  troops  of  their  sovereign,  and 
dread  nothing  so  much  as  the  horrors  of  a  civil  war. 
But,  sir,  at  the  same  time,  we  beg  leave  to  assure  your 


146  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Excellency,  that  as  they  apprehend  themselves 
justified  by  the  principle  of  self  defence,  they  are 
most  firmly  resolved  to  defend  their  rights  and 
privileges  to  the  last  extremity;  nor  will  they  be 
restrained  from  giving  aid  to  their  brethren  if  any 
unjustifiable  attack  is  made  upon  them. 

"Be  so  good,  therefore,  as  to  explain  yourself 
upon  this  most  important  subject,  so  far  as  is  con 
sistent  with  your  duty  to  our  common  sovereign. 
Is  there  no  way  to  prevent  this  unhappy  dispute 
from  coming  to  extremities?  Is  there  no  alternative 
but  absolute  submission,  or  the  desolations  of  war? 
By  that  humanity  which  constitutes  so  amiable  a 
part  of  your  character,  and  for  the  honour  of  our 
sovereign  and  the  glory  of  the  British  empire,  we 
entreat  you  to  prevent  it  if  possible.  Surely  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  temperate  wisdom  of  the 
Empire  might  even  yet  find  expedients  to  restore 
peace,  that  so  all  parts  of  the  empire  may  enjoy 
their  particular  rights,  honours  and  immunities. 
Certainly  this  is  an  event  most  devoutly  to  be 
wished;  and  will  it  not  be  consistent  with  your 
duties  to  suspend  the  operations  of  war  on  your 
part,  and  enable  us  on  ours  to  quiet  the  minds  of 
the  people,  at  least  till  the  result  of  some  further 
deliberations  may  be  known. 

"The  importance  of  the  occasion  will  no  doubt 
sufficiently  apologize  for  the  earnestness  with  which 
we  address  you,  and  any  seeming  impropriety  which 
may  attend  it,  as  well  as  induce  you  to  give  us 
the  most  explicit  and  favorable  answer  in  your 
power. 


HARSH   TREATMENT  OF  EMBASSY    147 

"I  am,  with  great  esteem  and  respect,  in  behalf 
of  the  General  Assembly, 

"Sir,  your  most  obedient  servant^ 
"To  his  Excellency  Thomas  Gage,  Esq." 

Pursuant  to  the  resolve  of  the  General  Assembly, 
Johnson  and  Wolcott  undertook  their  embassy  to 
General  Gage,  against  Johnson's  advice  and  in 
clinations,  if  not  against  Wolcott's.  They  found 
Gage  in  Boston  with  some  difficulty,  and  obtained 
an  interview  with  him  and  a  reply  to  the  Governor's 
letter.  Upon  their  return,  they  found  their  horses 
missing,  and  found  themselves  in  the  hands  of  a 
sheriff  who  haled  them  before  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  of  Massachusetts,  where  Johnson  was  re 
quested  to  open  and  read  the  letter  of  General 
Gage,  which  he  declined  to  do,  as  it  was  addressed 
to  Governor  Trumbull.  Schooled  in  the  diplomacy  of 
his  five  years  in  London,  Johnson  handed  the  letter, 
sealed,  to  the  President  of  the  Provincial  Congress, 
saying  to  him  that  the  Connecticut  committee  were 
in  his  power,  and  that  he  could  open  the  letter  if 
he  thought  he  had  a  right  to  do  so,  at  the  same  time 
reminding  him  that  Connecticut  was  not  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts.  Intercolonial  courtesy 
prevailed,  and  after  a  delay  of  some  two  hours,  the 
letter  was  returned  to  Johnson  unopened,  and  the 
Connecticut  ambassadors  were  allowed  to  proceed 
to  their  homes. 

This  rather  high-handed  proceeding  appears  to 
have  been  the  result  of  information  volunteered  to 
the  Massachusetts  Congress  by  General  Israel  Put- 


148  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

nam  and  Colonel  Elisha  Porter.  We  are  left  to 
imagine  from  Putnam's  previous  proceedings  that 
anything  like  negotiations  for  peace  would  be  dis 
tasteful  to  him,  and  that  he  improved  the  oppor 
tunity  for  showing  to  the  Connecticut  ambassadors 
the  temper  of  the  Massachusetts  Congress. 

The  letter  which  Gage  sent  in  reply  to  the  Gov 
ernor's  queries  was,  of  course,  a  vindication  of  the 
policy  which  he  had  pursued  and  intended  to  pur 
sue.  A  few  extracts  from  the  letter  will  show  how 
the  more  important  of  the  Governor's  questions  were 
answered,  so  far  as  they  were  answered  at  all.1 

"You  ask,  why  is  the  town  of  Boston  now  shut 
up?  I  can  only  refer  you  for  an  answer  to  those 
bodies  of  armed  men  who  now  surround  the  town 
and  prevent  all  access  to  it.  The  hostile  prepara 
tions  you  mention  are  such  as  the  conduct  of  the 
people  of  this  Province  has  rendered  it  prudent  to 
make,  for  the  defence  of  those  under  my  com 
mand 

"You  inquire,  is  there  no  way  to  prevent  this 
unhappy  dispute  from  coming  to  extremities?  Is 
there  no  alternative  except  by  absolute  submission 
or  the  desolations  of  war?  I  answer,  I  hope  there 
is.  The  King  and  Parliament  seem  ready  to  hold 
out  terms  of  reconciliation,  consistent  with  the 
honor  and  interest  of  Great  Britain  and  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  Colonies.  They  have  mutually 
declared  their  readiness  to  attend  to  any  real  griev 
ances  of  the  Colonies,  and  to  afford  them  any  just 

1  The  letter  in  full  may  be  found  in  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  vol. 
14,  p.  443,  and  in  Force's  American  Archives,  4th  series,  vol.  2,  p.  482. 


LETTER  FROM  GENERAL  GAGE   149 

and  reasonable  indulgence  which  shall,  in  a  dutiful 
and  constitutional  manner,  be  laid  before  them; 
and  his  Majesty  adds,  it  is  his  ardent  wish  that  this 
disposition  may  have  a  happy  effect  on  the  temper 
and  conduct  of  his  subjects  in  America.  I  must 
add,  likewise,  the  Resolution  of  the  27th  of  Febru 
ary,  on  the  grand  dispute  of  taxation  and  revenue, 
leaving  it  to  the  Colonies  to  tax  themselves,  under 
certain  conditions.  Here  is  surely  a  foundation  for 
an  accommodation,  to  people  who  wish  a  reconcilia 
tion  rather  than  a  destructive  war  between  countries 
so  nearly  connected  by  the  ties  of  blood  and  inter 
est  :  but  I  fear  the  leaders  of  this  Province  have  been, 
and  still  are,  intent  only  on  shedding  blood.  .  .  . 

"You  ask  whether  it  will  not  be  consistent  with 
my  duty  to  suspend  the  operations  of  war  on  my 
part  ?  I  have  commenced  no  operations  of  war  but 
defensive;  such  you  cannot  wish  me  to  suspend, 
while  I  am  surrounded  by  an  armed  country,  who 
have  already  begun,  and  threaten  further  to  prose 
cute  an  offensive  war,  and  are  now  violently  de 
priving  me,  the  King's  troops,  and  many  others  of 
the  King's  subjects  under  my  immediate  protec 
tion,  of  all  the  conveniences  and  necessaries  of 
life,  with  which  the  country  abounds.  But  it  must 
quiet  the  minds  of  all  reasonable  people  when  I 
assure  you  that  I  have  no  disposition  to  injure  or 
molest  quiet  and  peaceable  subjects;  but  on  the 
contrary  shall  esteem  it  my  greatest  happiness 
to  defend  and  protect  them  against  every  species 
of  violence  and  oppression." 

The    General   Assembly   had    adjourned   on   the 


ISO  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

sixth  of  May  without  waiting  to  hear  the  report 
of  Johnson  and  Wolcott  on  their  embassy  to  General 
Gage,  and  so  his  reply  must  have  been  delivered 
to  Governor  Trumbull  personally  at  Hartford.  It 
was  soon  followed  by  an  official  letter  from  the 
Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  under  date 
of  May  second,  enclosing  depositions  regarding  the 
battle  of  Lexington,  warning  Connecticut  to  place 
no  confidence  in  General  Gage  and  closing  with  these 
words : 

"It  is  evidently  the  business  of  the  general,  to 
subjugate  these  and  the  other  Colonies;  and,  we 
think,  there  are  the  most  convincing  proofs  that, 
in  order  to  effect  it,  he  is  constantly  aiming  to  sus 
pend  their  preparations  for  defence,  until  his  rein 
forcements  shall  arrive;  but,  although  we  have 
been  under  great  apprehension  with  respect  to  the 
advantages  which  the  conference  of  Connecticut 
with  General  Gage  might  give  our  enemies,  yet 
we  have  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and 
vigilance  of  your  respectable  assembly  and  colony, 
as  well  as  of  our  other  sister  colonies;  and  have 
reason  to  hope,  that,  while  he  fails  in  his  intentions 
to  lull  and  deceive  this  continent,  he  can  never 
accomplish  his  designs  to  conquer  it." 

In  the  meantime  a  committee  from  Massachusetts 
had  been  sent  to  Connecticut,  as  to  some  of  the 
other  colonies,  to  hasten  preparations  for  war,  if 
they  should  need  hastening,  and  to  this  committee 
a  much  more  argumentative  letter  was  sent  con 
cerning  the  embassy  to  General  Gage.  Much  time 
of  the  Governor  and  his  council  was  doubtless  spent 


DIFFERENCES  SETTLED  151 

with  this  committee,  which  consisted  of  Jedediah 
Foster,  Timothy  Danielson  and  John  Bliss.  A 
greater  than  these  appears  to  have  been  in  Connec 
ticut  at  or  about  the  same  time  in  the  person  of 
John  Adams,  who  writes  to  his  wife  on  the  thirtieth 
of  April,  from  Hartford: 

"The  Assembly  of  this  Colony  is  now  sitting  at 
Hartford.  We  are  treated  with  great  tenderness, 
sympathy  and  respect.  Everything  is  doing  by 
this  Colony  that  can  be  done  by  men,  both  for  New 
York  and  Boston.  .  .  ." 

Governor  Trumbull  replies  to  the  official  letter 
of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts 
promptly,  on  the  fourth  of  May,  saying: 

"Your  letter  of  the  2d  of  May  instant  is  received. 
You  need  not  fear  our  firmness,  deliberation  and 
unanimity,  to  pursue  the  measures  which  appear 
best  for  our  common  defence  and  safety,  and  in 
no  degree  to  relax  our  vigilant  preparations  for 
that  end,  and  to  act  in  union  and  concert  with  our 
sister  colonies.  We  shall  be  cautious  of  trusting 
promises  which  it  may  be  in  the  power  of  any  one  to 
evade.  We  hope  no  ill  consequences  will  attend  our 
embassy  to  General  Gage.  We  should  be  glad  to 
be  furnished  with  the  evidence,  duly  authenticated, 
concerning  the  attack,  on  the  iQth  of  April  last, 
at  Lexington,  which  it  is  presumed  you  have  taken. 
Although  we  are  at  a  distance  from  the  most  dis 
tressing  scenes  before  your  eyes,  yet  we  are  most 
sensibly  affected  with  the  alarming  relations  of 
them." 

Thus  closed  this  little  episode.     It  appears,  from 


152  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  correspondence  of  others  regarding  it,  to  have 
been  a  surprise  to  Connecticut  that  Massachusetts 
should  take  exception  to  her  action  in  the  matter, 
and  it  was  generally  believed  that  she  misunder 
stood  the  temper  and  spirit  in  which  the  embassy 
was  undertaken.  At  all  events,  the  two  colonies 
settled  such  differences  as  existed  at  the  time  in  a 
perfectly  amicable  and  satisfactory  way,  thanks, 
in  great  measure,  to  the  temperate  and  conciliatory 
attitude  of  Governor  Trumbull,  who  might  have 
gone  into  a  vindication  of  the  course  of  Connecticut 
had  he  seen  fit,  and  had  he  fully  concurred  in  that 
course,  of  which  there  must  always  exist  some  doubt. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  visit  of  the 
Massachusetts  committee  was  not  needed  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  patriotic  sentiment  in  Con 
necticut.  Every  action  of  the  General  Assembly  at 
its  special  session  in  April  looked  to  the  military 
organization  of  the  colony,  and  the  forwarding  of 
the  six  regiments  for  which  Massachusetts  had  asked. 
With  her  usual  prudence  Connecticut  saw  well  to 
the  equipment  of  these  troops.  Captain  Joseph 
Trumbull,  the  Governor's  eldest  son,  is  appointed 
Commissary  General  for  the  colony.  Bills  of  credit 
are  issued  to  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  pounds,  with 
taxes  laid  to  meet  the  issue  at  maturity. 

With  the  Governor  it  was  a  time  of  stress  and 
strain.  His  position  officially  was  that  of  "Captain 
General  and  Governor  in  Chief",  involving  the 
direction  of  the  military  forces  of  the  colony  in 
addition  to  his  other  official  duties,  to  which  was 
added  that  of  Chief  Naval  Officer  of  the  colony. 


CHAPTER  XV 

TICONDEROGA  —  THE   COUNCIL  OF   SAFETY POWDER 

FOR    BUNKER    HILL  —  CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    WASH 
INGTON  --  THE    FIRST   AND    ONLY   MISUNDERSTANDING 

BETWEEN     WASHINGTON     AND     TRUMBULL SEARS's 

RAID THE  CONNECTICUT  "DESERTERS  " 

WHILE  Connecticut  was  undertaking  in 
dependent  negotiations  with  General 
Gage,  the  sole  result  of  which  appears 
to  have  been  needless  alarm  in  Massachusetts, 
the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  mobilized  the  troops  of  the  colony 
for  the  assistance  of  her  neighbors.  There 
was,  too,  even  before  the  letter  to  General  Gage 
was  despatched,  a  secret  movement  in  progress 
for  the  first  offensive  military  operation  of  the 
Revolution,  the  capture  of  Fort  Ticonderoga.  Thus 
this  unique  colony,  under  the  leadership  of  Trum- 
bull,  exhausted  every  resource  which  was  available 
under  the  circumstances;  by  negotiations  for  peace, 
preparations  for  war,  and  the  first  aggressive  act 
of  the  American  Revolution.  The  capture  of  Fort 
Ticonderoga  on  the  tenth  of  May  of  this  year  was 
due  entirely  to  Connecticut  enterprise  and  energy, 
even  though  the  force  which  effected  the  capture 
was  composed  largely  of  "Green  Mountain  boys", 
under  the  leadership  of  Ethan  Allen  of  Connecticut 
birth,  solely  because  it  was  imprudent  to  march  a 

153 


154  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

force  from  Hartford  to  Ticonderoga  owing  to  the 
need  of  secrecy  in  the  expedition.  The  treasury  of 
Connecticut  furnished  the  money  for  the  enterprise, 
upon  the  individual  obligations  of  its  projectors; 
and  an  important  factor  in  the  success  was  the 
sanction  and  counsel  of  the  Governor  and  his  Council, 
of  which  there  is  ample  proof  in  contemporary 
documents.1 

It  needs  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  reach 
the  conclusion  that  this  expedition  was  in  every 
way  promoted  by  the  Governor,  and  that  he  re 
joiced  in  its  success.  His  views  of  the  matter  may 
best  be  learned  from  the  following  extract  from  his 
letter  of  May  twenty-fifth  to  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  of  Massachusetts,  congratulating  that  body 
on  this  important  capture. 

"The  necessity  of  securing  and  maintaining  the 
posts  on  the  lakes  for  the  defence  of  the  frontiers 
becomes  daily  more  evident  from  the  iterated 
intelligence  we  receive  of  the  plan  formed  by  our 
enemies  to  distress  us  by  inroads  of  Canadians  and 
savages  from  the  Province  of  Quebec  upon  the  ad 
jacent  settlements.  The  enclosed  copy  of  a  letter 
from  our  delegates  attending  at  New  York,  to 
communicate  measures  with  the  Provincial  Con 
gress  in  that  city,  throws  an  additional  light  on 
this  subject,  and  is  thought  worthy  to  be  commu 
nicated  to  you ;  and  whilst  the  designs  of  our  enemies 
against  us  fill  with  concern,  we  cannot  omit  to 
observe  the  smiles  of  Providence  upon  us  in  reveal 
ing  their  wicked  plans,  and  hitherto  prospering  the 

1  Force's  American  Archives,  4th  series,  vol.  2,  pp.  507,  558. 


riCONDEROGA  155 

attempts  of  the  colonies  to  frustrate  them.  With 
a  humble  reliance  on  the  continuance  of  divine  favor 
and  protection  in  the  cause  of  the  justice  of  wvhich 
a  doubt  cannot  be  entertained,  the  General  As 
sembly  of  this  Colony  are  ready  to  co-operate  with 
the  other  colonies  for  their  common  defence,  and  to 
contribute  their  proportion  of  men  and  other  nec 
essaries  for  maintaining  the  posts  on  the  frontiers, 
or  defending  or  repelling  invasions  in  any  other 
quarter,  agreeable  to  the  advice  of  the  Continental 
Congress." 

Captain  Edward  Mott  of  Preston,  Connecticut, 
had  been  despatched  to  Philadelphia  by  the  Gov 
ernor  with  the  news  of  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga, 
in  which  he  had  held  the  position  of  a  leader,  issuing 
to  Ethan  Allen  his  warrant  for  holding  the  fort 
after  its  bloodless  capture,  "agreeable  to  the  power 
and  authority  to  us  given  by  the  Colony  of  Con 
necticut",  while  awaiting  orders  from  that  colony 
or  from  the  Continental  Congress.  This  second 
Congress,  it  will  be  remembered,  opened  its  session 
in  Philadelphia  on  the  morning  of  the  capture,  and 
although  Allen  may  have  been  a  little  premature 
in  demanding  the  surrender  in  the  name  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  then  to  sit  for  the  second  time, 
the  session  and  the  capture  must  have  occurred 
within  a  few  hours  of  each  other. 

The  constant  demands  upon  the  Governor's  time 
and  attention  were  seen  to  be  so  urgent  as  to  re 
quire  a  specially  constituted  council  to  assist  him 
in  his  arduous  and  important  duties.  The  regularly 
constituted  council  could  not  be  convened  promptly 


156  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

enough  from  various  portions  of  the  State  to  meet 
the  -sudden  and  imperative  calls  which  were  con 
tinually  arising.  For  this  reason,  the  General  As 
sembly,  at  its  May  session  of  1775,  appointed 
Matthew  Griswold,  Eliphalet  Dyer,  Jabez  Hunting- 
ton,  Samuel  Huntington,  William  Williams, 
Nathaniel  Wales,  Junior,  Jedediah  Elderkin,  Joshua 
West  and  Benjamin  Huntington,  "a  Committee  to 
assist  the  Governor  when  the  Assembly  is  not 
sitting,  to  order  and  direct  the  marches  and  stations 
of  the  inhabitants  inlisted  and  assembled  for  the 
especial  defence  of  the  Colony,  or  any  part  or  parts 
of  them,  as  they  shall  judge  necessary,  and  to  give 
order  from  time  to  time  for  furnishing  and  supplying 
said  inhabitants  with  every  matter  and  thing  that 
may  be  needful  to  render  the  defence  of  the  Colony 
effectual." 

This  act  evidently  contemplated  that  the  meetings 
of  this  committee  should  be  held  at  Lebanon,  three 
of  its  members  besides  the  Governor  being  residents 
of  that  town,  and  the  other  members,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  Deputy  Governor  Griswold,  being  residents 
of  the  then  adjoining  towns  of  Norwich  and  Wind- 
ham. 

This  committee  soon  became  known  as  the 
Council  of  Safety,  and  was  continued  during  the 
entire  war,  holding  at  Lebanon  alone  nearly  twelve 
hundred  meetings  during  that  period.  The  little 
building  in  which  these  meetings  were  held,  and 
which  was  Governor  TrumbulPs  store  and  office,  is 
known  to  this  day  as  the  War  Office,  and  stands, 
repaired  and  restored  to  its  original  condition,  under 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  SAFETT  157 

the  ownership  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution.  The  Governor's  native 
town  of  Lebanon  was  in  these  days  a  place  jof  no 
small  importance,  standing  on  the  direct  road  to 
Boston,  and  ranking  fourteenth  in  population, 
eleventh  in  taxable  property  and  third  in  the  number 
of  men  who  responded  to  the  Lexington  alarm. 
Notwithstanding  the  numerous  special  sessions  of 
the  General  Assembly,  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  the  proceedings  within  the  walls  of  the  humble 
little  gambrel-roofed  War  Office  were  of  equal  if 
not  of  greater  importance  to  those  of  the  Assembly 
itself.  The  times  brought  continually  emergencies 
and  sudden  demands,  and  the  Council  of  Safety 
alone  could  supply  them.  The  records  of  the  body 
may  be  rather  prosaic  in  their  matter-of-fact  state 
ments  of  routine  and  action;  but  taken  in  connec 
tion  with  the  correspondence  and  events  of  the 
time,  they  are  at  times  little  short  of  dramatic. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Council  of  Safety  was 
held  on  the  seventh  of  June,  just  a  week  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  General  Assembly,  to  act  upon 
the  urgent  calls  from  Massachusetts  for  powder, 
which  the  Governor  presented  to  the  Council.  As 
a  result  of  this  meeting,  fifty  barrels  of  one  hundred 
and  eight  pounds  each  were  ordered  to  be  forwarded 
at  once  from  the  stores  of  this  provident  colony, 
which  furnished  more  than  one  half  the  entire 
supply  of  powder  which  was  used  by  the  Americans 
ten  days  later  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
Although  William  Williams,  the  Governor's  son-in 
law,  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Council,  and 


158  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

although  the  official  record  of  this  meeting  is  in  his 
handwriting,  it  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  loose 
leaves  of  the  records  for  the  first  two  months  of  its 
sessions  are  in  Governor  TrumbuH's  handwriting 
differing  only  slightly  in  phraseology,  but  not  in 
substance. 

At  this  same  memorable  first  meeting  of  the 
Council  of  Safety,  "it  was  moved  by  his  Honor  the 
Governor"  that  the  whole  or  a  part  of  Colonel 
Samuel  Holden  Parsons's  regiment,  then  stationed 
at  New  London,  be  ordered  to  march  at  once  to 
the  front,  to  join  the  forces  under  command  of 
General  Spencer.  Although  this  regiment  had  been 
stationed  at  New  London  for  the  defense  of  Con 
necticut,  two  companies  were  sent  forward  in  time 
to  take  part  in  the  then  impending  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill ;  and  on  the  very  day  of  the  battle  the  remain 
ing  six  companies  were  ordered  to  join  the  other 
two  at  the  seat  of  war. 

The  news  of  the  battle  reached  Lebanon  at  about 
ten  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  eighteenth  of 
June,  and  the  Council  of  Safety  convened  at  once 
on  the  nineteenth.  Measures  were  taken  not  only 
to  perfect  the  organization  of  the  Connecticut 
troops  in  the  field,  but  to  bring  them  under  the 
immediate  command  of  the  Commander  in  Chief, 
for  the  time  being,  General  Artemas  Ward.  Orders 
were  issued  by  vote  of  the  Council,  and  doubtless 
upon  motion  or  suggestion  of  the  Governor,  com 
manding  all  Connecticut  generals  to  subject  them 
selves  to  the  command  of  General  Ward.  So  con 
cerned  had  the  colony  now  become  for  the  general 


LETTERS   TO   WASHINGTON  159 

welfare  that  the  neighboring  colonies  of  Rhode 
Island  and  New  Hampshire  were  urged  to  issue 
similar  orders.  J 

The  short  command  of  General  Ward  was  soon 
to  cease,  for  Congress  had  already  appointed  Wash 
ington  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Continental 
Army,  and  he  was  at  the  time  on  his  way  to  Cam 
bridge  to  assume  his  command.  It  is  barely  possible 
that  Governor  Trumbull  had  met  him  nineteen  years 
before  when,  in  1756,  he  passed  through  Connec 
ticut  as  a  young  colonel  with  his  retinue  after  his 
conference  with  Governor  Shirley  at  Boston.  How 
ever  this  may  be,  a  correspondence  and  personal  ac 
quaintance  were  now  to  begin  which  formed  a  factor 
second  to  none  in  the  active  prosecution  of  the 
war  of  the  Revolution.  The  correspondence  begins 
on  the  thirteenth  of  July  when,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Council  of  Safety,  the  Governor  presents  for  ap 
proval  two  letters  which  he  has  addressed  to  Wash 
ington  ;  the  first  of  which  congratulates  him  on  his 
appointment,  and  the  second  refers  to  dissatis 
faction  of  Connecticut  generals  over  the  appoint 
ments  made  by  the  Continental  Congress,  which 
degraded  General  Spencer  and  General  Wooster 
from  the  rank  they  had  each  held  under  their  pro 
vincial  commissions,  and  advanced  General  Putnam 
above  both  of  them,  though  he  had  up  to  that  time 
been  below  them  in  provincial  rank.  On  this  same 
thirteenth  of  July,  General  Spencer  had  reached 
Lebanon  with  loud  complaints  of  his  treatment  by 
Congress,  and  was  with  much  difficulty  "persuaded 
to  return  to  the  army,  and  not  at  present  quit  the 


i6o  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

service  as  he  proposed."  He  is  made  the  bearer  of 
these  two  important  letters  to  Washington.  After 
congratulating  him  on  his  appointment  by  Congress, 
Trumbull  writes  : 

"They  have  with  united  voice  appointed  you  to 
the  high  station  you  possess.  The  Supreme  Director 
of  all  events  hath  caused  a  wonderful  union  of 
hearts  and  counsels  to  subsist  among  us.  Now, 
therefore,  be  strong  and  very  courageous.  May  the 
God  of  the  Armies  of  Israel  shower  down  the  blessings 
of  his  divine  providence  on  you;  give  you  wisdom 
and  fortitude ;  cover  your  head  in  the  day  of  battle 
and  danger;  add  success;  convince  our  enemies  of 
their  mistaken  measures;  and  that  all  their  attempts 
to  deprive  these  Colonies  of  their  inestimable  con 
stitutional  rights  and  liberties  are  injurious  and 


vain.' 


Thus  the  Governor  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  writes 
to  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  age  of  forty- 
three.  There  is  little  or  no  doubt  that  Washington 
had  been  present  at  the  session  of  Congress  where 
by  unanimous  order  that  body  expressed  to  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  "the  high  sense  they  have  of  [his] 
your  important  services  to  the  United  Colonies  at 
this  important  crisis."  To  his  letter  of  congratula 
tion  Washington  replies,  thanking  him,  and  adding: 
"As  the  cause  of  our  common  country  calls  us 
both  to  active  and  dangerous  duty,  I  trust  that 
Divine  Providence,  which  wisely  orders  the  affairs 
of  men,  will  enable  us  to  discharge  it  with  fidelity 
and  success.  The  uncorrupted  choice  of  a  brave 
and  free  people  had  raised  you  to  deserved  eminence. 


PREPARATIONS  FOR   WAR  161 

That  the  blessing  of  health,  and  the  still  greater 
blessings  of  long  continuing  to  govern  such  a  people 
may  be  yours  is  the  sincere  wish,  Sir,  of  your  '  etc. 

Regarding  the  dissatisfaction  of  General  Spencer 
and  others  with  appointments  by  the  Continental 
Congress  he  writes,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Trumbull  agrees  with  him : 

"As  the  Army  is  upon  a  general  establishment, 
their  right  to  supersede  and  contract  a  Provincial 
one  must  be  unquestionable,  and  in  such  a  cause  I 
should  hope  every  post  would  be  deemed  honourable 
which  gave  a  man  an  opportunity  to  serve  his 
country." 

From  this  time  forward,  the  correspondence  begins 
to  be  quite  active.  Powder  is  needed,  and  supplied 
from  Connecticut.  The  Middletown  lead  mines 
are  exploited  as  a  source  of  supply  for  bullets,  and 
the  stations  and  marches  of  newly  raised  levies  of 
troops  are  designated.  At  first  it  seemed  best  to 
retain  these  troops  in  Connecticut,  where  their  drill 
and  organization  could  be  perfected,  and  where 
they  could  be  ordered  to  repel  any  advance  of  the 
enemy  on  New  York,  which  then  appeared  to  be 
threatened. 

On  the  fifth  of  September  Trumbull  wrote  to 
Washington  in  reply  to  his  letter  of  the  second  in 
forming  him  of  the  apparent  need  of  these  troops 
to  protect  the  coast  towns  of  Connecticut,  and  ex 
plaining  that,  for  this  reason,  he  was  detaining  them 
for  a  time.  Washington's  letter  of  the  second  had 
referred  to  the  danger  from  the  British  fleet,  which, 
however,  he  considered  as  past,  and  had  positively 


162  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

directed  that  the  new  levies  be  sent  forward  im 
mediately  to  fill  the  place  of  troops  then  destined  for 
Canada. 

The  letter  of  Trumbull  in  reply  appears  to  have 
led  to  the  only  shadow  of  a  misunderstanding  which 
occurred  between  him  and  Washington  during  their 
long  and  active  corrrespondence.  Washington  sent 
on  the  eighth  a  peremptory  order  to  Trumbull  to 
send  these  troops  forward,  without  regard  to  the 
movements  of  the  enemy,  informing  him  that  the 
reasons  for  detaining  them  in  Connecticut  no  longer 
existed,  and  that  they  were  needed  to  fill  the  places 
of  other  continentals  who  were  to  leave  in  two  days 
from  that  time.  He  also  informs  Trumbull  that 
"by  a  resolution  of  Congress  the  troops  on  the  Con 
tinental  establishment  were  not  to  be  employed 
for  the  defence  of  the  coasts,  or  of  any  particular 
province,  the  militia  being  deemed  competent  for 
that  service." 

TrumbuH's  sensitiveness  to  real  or  supposed  affront 
is  manifested  in  his  reply,  in  which,  after  explaining 
the  delay  in  receiving  the  letter,  and  speaking  of 
stationing  the  troops  on  the  Connecticut  coast  by 
Washington's  earlier  orders  he  adds: 

"I  am  surprised  that  mine  of  the  5th  inst.  was 
not  received,  or  not  judged  worthy  of  notice,  as  no 
mention  is  made  of  it. 

"Stonington  has  been  attacked,  and  severely 
cannonaded,  but  by  Divine  Providence  marvel 
lously  protected. 

"New  London  and  Norwich  are  still  so  menaced 
by  the  ministerial  ships^and  troops,  that  the  militia 


TEMPORARY  MISUNDERSTANDINGS    163 

cannot  be  thought  sufficient  for  their  security,  and 
it  is  necessary  to  throw  up  some  intrenchments. 
We  are  obliged  actually  to  raise  more  men  for  their 
security,  and  for  the  towns  of  New  Haven  and 
Lyme.  I  hoped  some  of  the  new  levies  might  have 
been  left  here  till  these  dangers  here  were  over, 
without  injury  to  your  operations.  I  own  that  it 
must  be  left  to  your  judgment.  Yet  it  would  have 
given  me  pleasure  to  have  been  acquainted  that  you 
did  consider  it.  I  thank  Divine  Providence  and 
you  for  this  early  warning  to  great  care  and  watch 
fulness,  that  so  the  union  of  the  colonies  may  be 
settled  on  a  permanent  and  happy  basis. 

"I  have  before  me  your  more  acceptable  letter 
of  the  9th  instant.  The  necessities  of  the  Colony 
to  supply  our  two  armed  vessels,  to  furnish  the  men 
necessarily  raised  for  the  defence  of  our  seaports 
and  coasts,  and  to  raise  the  lead  ore,  which  appears 
very  promising,  prevent  our  being  able  to  spare  more 
than  half  a  ton  [_of  powder],  which  is  ordered  for 
ward  with  expedition.  Before  the  necessity  for 
raising  more  men  appeared,  we  intended  to  send  a 
ton. 

''You  may  depend  on  our  utmost  exertions  for 
the  defence  and  security  of  the  constitutional  rights 
and  liberty  of  the  Colonies,  and  of  our  own  in  par 
ticular.  None  has  shown  greater  forwardness,  and 
thereby  rendered  itself  more  the  object  of  minis 
terial  vengeance. 

"I  am,  with  great  esteem  and  regard  for  your 
personal  character,"  etc. 

To  this  letter  Washington  replies : 


164  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

"Cambridge,  21  September,  1775. 
"Sir, 

"It  gives  me  real  concern  to  observe  by  yours  of 
the  1 5th  instant,  that  you  should  think  it  necessary 
to  distinguish  between  my  personal  and  public  charac 
ter,  and  confine  your  esteem  to  the  former.  Upon  a 
reperusal  of  mine  of  the  8th  instant,  I  cannot  think 
the  construction  you  have  made  one ; 1  and  unless 
it  was  that  I  should  have  hoped  that  the  respect  I 
really  have,  and  which  I  flattered  myself  I  had  mani 
fested  to  you,  would  have  called  for  the  most  favor 
able.  In  the  disposition  of  the  Continental  troops, 
I  have  long  been  sensible  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  please,  not  individuals  merely,  but  particular 
provinces,  whose  partial  necessities  would  occasion 
ally  call  for  assistance.  .  .  .  You  may  be  assured, 
Sir,  nothing  was  intended  that  might  be  construed 
into  disrespect;  and  at  so  interesting  a  period, 
nothing  less  ought  to  disturb  the  harmony  so  neces 
sary  for  the  happy  success  of  our  public  operations. 

"The  omission  of  acknowledging,  in  precise  terms, 
the  receipt  of  your  favor  of  the  5th  instant  was  purely 
accidental.  The  subject  was  not  so  new  to  me  as  to 
require  long  consideration.  I  had  had  occasion 
fully  to  deliberate  upon  it,  in  consequence  of  ap 
plications  for  troops  from  Cape  Ann,  Machias,  New 
Hampshire  and  Long  Island,  where  the  same  neces 
sity  was  as  strongly  pleaded,  and,  in  the  last  two 
instances,  the  most  peremptory  orders  were  neces- 

1  Sparks  gives  this  sentence  in  the  following  words:  "I  cannot  think  it 
bears  the  construction  you  have  put  upon  it",  which  is  probably  not  an  au 
thentic  copy  from  the  original. 


THE  EPISODE  CLOSED  165 

sary  to  prevent  the  troops  from  being  detained. 
I  foresaw  the  same  difficulty  here.  I  am  by  no 
means  insensible  to  the  situation  of  the  pecrple  on 
the  coast.  I  wish  I  could  extend  protection  to  all; 
but  the  numerous  detachments  necessary  to  remedy 
the  evil,  would  amount  to  a  dissolution  of  the  army, 
or  make  the  most  important  operations  of  the  cam 
paign  depend  upon  the  piratical  expeditions  of  two 
or  three  men-of-war  and  transports. 

"The  spirit  and  zeal  of  the  colony  of  Connecticut 
are  unquestionable;  and  whatever  may  be  the 
hostile  intentions  of  the  men-of-war,  I  hope  their 
utmost  efforts  can  do  little  more  than  alarm  the 
coast. 

"I  am,  with  great  esteem  and  regard  for  both  your 
personal  and  public  character,  Sir",  etc. 

Trumbull's  reply  assures  Washington  that  the 
unpleasant  episode  is  ended,  and  that  he  is  "per 
suaded  that  no  such  difficulty  will  any  more  happen." 
He  deprecates  jealousies  and  disputes  between  the 
colonies,  and  shows,  as  he  has  repeatedly  shown,  his 
earnest  desire  to  promote  the  welfare  of  their  com 
mon  cause. 

The  result  of  this  episode  shows  clearly,  in  the 
light  of  future  correspondence,  that  these  two  men, 
on  whom  so  much  depended,  understood  each  other 
fully  from  this  time  forward,  and  worked  long  and 
earnestly  together  in  perfect  confidence  and  har 
mony.  The  early  days  of  the  organization  of  the 
Continental  Army  were  days  fraught  with  diffi 
culties  which  it  is  sometimes  hard  to  understand  at 
this  distance  of  time.  As  an  example  of  these 


166  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

difficulties,  we  have  seen  how  Trumbull  and  his 
Council  appeased  General  Spencer,  and  later,  in  the 
broad-minded  spirit  of  true  patriotism,  how  Trum 
bull  and  Washington  quickly  cleared  away  the 
only  and  slight  cloud  of  misunderstanding  which 
ever  came  between  them. 

The  time  had  now  come  when  the  Tories  or 
Loyalists  were  regarded  as  internal  foes.  That  war 
had  begun  there  could  be  no  doubt.  In  November 
of  this  momentous  year  it  happened  that  the  Gov 
ernor's  native  colony  undertook  the  suppression  of 
the  Tory  press  of  James  Rivington  of  New  York, 
whose  utterances  through  his  Gazette  found  wide 
circulation  and  ready  sympathy  among  the  Tories 
in  that  city  and  the  vicinity.  The  expedition  for 
silencing  this  publication  was  planned  by  Isaac 
Sears,  of  New  York,  who  recruited  a  force  of  some 
eighty  men  in  New  Haven  and  the  vicinity  for 
the  purpose.  Incidentally,  they  captured  at  West- 
chester  the  Reverend  (afterwards  Bishop)  Samuel 
Seabury,  Judge  Jonathan  Fowler  and  "Lord"  Na 
thaniel  Underbill.  At  Mamaroneck  they  burned  a 
small  British  sloop,  and  on  the  following  day  pro 
ceeded  to  New  York,  where  they  drew  up  with 
fixed  bayonets  at  Rivington's  printing  house,  and 
seized  his  types  and  other  printing  materials,  which 
rather  radical  censorship  of  his  press  prevented 
him  from  making  further  issue  of  his  mischievous 
publications  for  nearly  two  years. 

The  General  Committee  of  the  City  and  County 
of  New  York  found  its  dignity  rather  insulted  by 
these  violent  proceedings,  and  addressed  a  letter 


SEARS'S  RAID  167 

to  Governor  Trumbull  requesting  that  Rivington's 
property  be  returned  to  the  Chairman  of  this  General 
Committee.  The  Governor's  previous  experience  in 
the  case  of  the  Tory,  Francis  Green  of  Boston,  ap 
pears  to  have  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  this  in 
stance.  Solemn  as  was  the  good  Governor's  face 
under  the  weighty  cares  and  responsibilities  of  the 
time,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  he  could  have 
penned  his  decorous  and  courteous  reply  without 
at  least  a  twinkle  in  those  calm  eyes,  if  not  some 
muscular  contractions  suggestive  of  a  chuckle.  "The 
proper  resort  for  a  private  injury,"  he  replies,  "must 
be  to  the  courts  of  law,  which  are  the  only  juris 
dictions  that  can  take  notice  of  violences  of  this 
kind."  He  also  calls  the  attention  of  the  General 
Committee  to  the  fact  that  Sears  is  a  respectable 
member  of  their  own  city  and  congress,  and  is 
therefore  amenable  to  their  jurisdiction  alone.  The 
Governor's  correspondents  had  already  gravely  acted 
on  this  suggestion  by  citing  Sears  and  others  to 
appear  before  the  Committee  "to  answer  for  their 
conduct  in  entering  the  City  this  day  ^November 
23d]  with  a  number  of  Horse,  in  a  hostile  manner", 
which,  with  true  Dutch  dignity,  the  mover  of  the 
summons  asserts  that  he  considers  "a  breach  of  the 
Association." 

History  is  silent  regarding  Sears's  obedience  to 
this  summons.  There  is  certainly  no  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  Rivington's  types  were  ever  returned  to 
him;  for,  until  the  British  occupied  New  York, 
and  for  some  time  later,  his  Gazette  was  conspicuous 
by  its  absence  from  the  publications  of  the  day. 


168  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

The  year  1775  closed  with  a  very  unhappy  mili 
tary  -  experience  for  Connecticut  which  gave  the 
Governor  much  concern,  even  though  it  bore  no 
serious  results.  The  Connecticut  troops  had  en 
listed  in  May  and  June  for  six  months,  and,  as 
Washington  writes,  under  date  of  December  second, 
"they  were  requested  and  ordered  to  remain,  as 
the  time  of  most  of  them  would  not  be  out  until  the 
loth,  when  they  would  be  relieved."  Some  of  these 
men,  however,  left  for  their  homes  without  obtain 
ing  a  regular  discharge.  Their  officers  had,  as  they 
supposed,  persuaded  them  to  wait  until  new  re 
cruits  could  fill  their  places,  and  had  represented  to 
Washington  that  the  men  would  remain.  The 
men  who  left  thus  summarily  met  with  only  scorn 
and  ridicule  on  their  way  home  and  on  their  arrival, 
and  were  only  too  glad  to  hide  their  faces  or  return 
to  camp.  Washington,  in  his  letter  of  the  second, 
speaks  of  them  as  deserters,  the  Council  of  Safety 
uses  the  same  term,  but  declines  to  deal  with  them 
as  such,  owing  to  the  critical  state  of  the  times  and 
the  immediate  need  for  new  recruits. 

The  Governor  writes  to  Washington  expressing 
"grief,  surprise  and  indignation"  at  the  conduct  of 
these  men,  which  he  can  only  excuse  by  a  custom  of 
the  French  war  by  which  soldiers  were  considered 
free  to  leave  the  service  when  their  terms  of  enlist 
ment  expired.  He  asks  for  any  suggestions  or  even 
commands  from  Washington  regarding  these  men, 
and  closes  by  saying : 

"Your  candor  and  goodness  will  suggest  to  your 
consideration  that  the  conduct  of  our  troops  is  not 


CASE  OF   THE  DESERTERS  169 

a  rule  whereby  to  judge  of  the  temper  and  spirit 
of  our  Colony." 

Washington  declines  to  offer  any  suggestion  to 
the  Governor  regarding  this  disagreeable  affair, 
which,  though  it  created  much  concern  and  indig 
nation  at  the  time,  appears  to  have  been  due  to 
only  a  small  number  of  men.  At  a  later  date,  the 
General  Assembly  voted,  in  some  instances,  full 
pay  to  men  who  left  the  army  at  this  time  in  the 
belief  that  they  had  a  right  to  do  so. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  FAMILY  -  -  JOSEPH,  THE  COM 
MISSARY  GENERAL HIS  EARLY  DEATH  -  -  JONA 
THAN  AND  HIS  DISTINGUISHED  SERVICES DAVID, 

THE  HOME  WORKER  --  JOHN,  THE  SOLDIER  AND  ARTIST 

FAITH     AND     HER     SAD     DEATH  MARY     AND     HER 

PATRIOTIC    HUSBAND 

UNDER  the  home  influences  by  which  they 
were  surrounded,  it  naturally  follows  that 
Governor    Trumbull's    four    sons    became 
actively  engaged    in   the  service   of  their   country, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  and  that  his 
two  daughters   became    the  wives    of    two   distin 
guished  patriots. 

The  eldest  son,  Joseph,  had  barely  time  to  begin 
his  duties  in  the  field  as  Commissary  General  of 
Connecticut  when  the  attention  of  Washington  was 
drawn  to  the  need  of  a  Commissary  General  for 
the  Continental  Army.  His  keen  insight  found 
Connecticut  better  equipped  in  her  commissariat 
than  any  of  the  other  colonies,  and  on  the  tenth  of 
July,  he  writes,  in  his  first  letter  from  Cambridge 
to  the  Continental  Congress : 

"I  esteem  it,  therefore,  my  duty  to  represent 
the  inconvenience  which  must  unavoidably  ensue 
from  a  dependence  on  a  number  of  persons  for 
supplies,  and  submit  it  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Congress,  whether  the  publick  service  will  not  be 

170 


JOSEPH,   COMMISSARY  GENERAL     171 

best  promoted  by  appointing  a  Commissary-General 
for  these  purposes.  We  have  a  striking  instance  of 
the  preference  of  such  a  mode  in  the  establishment 
of  Connecticut,  as  their  Troops  are  extremely  well 
furnished  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Trumbull,  and 
he  has  at  different  times  assisted  others  with  various 
articles.  Should  my  sentiments  happily  coincide 
with  those  of  your  Honours  on  this  subject,  I  beg 
leave  to  recommend  Mr.  Trumbull  as  a  very  proper 
person  for  this  department/' 

This  recommendation  appears  to  have  been  made 
entirely  on  Washington's  observation  of  Joseph 
TrumbulFs  personal  merits.  The  appointment  was 
immediately  made  by  Congress,  and  the  new  Com 
missary  General,  whose  entire  life  seems  to  have  been 
a  struggle  against  misfortunes  and  difficulties,  com 
menced  a  career  whose  cares,  worries  and  fatigues 
brought  him  to  an  early  grave  in  three  years.  The 
record  of  the  difficulties  he  encountered  is  too  long 
to  tell  here,  and  has  never  been  fully  told.1  The 
difficulty  of  buying  provisions  without  money;  the 
reconciling  of  jealousies  among  various  other  com 
missaries,  some  appointed  by  Congress,  and  others 
by  their  own  colonies;  the  difficulties  of  transpor 
tation  of  supplies;  the  interference  of  Congress  in 
the  organization  of  the  department,  —  all  these  and 
many  more  troubles  confronted  him  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  his  brief  career.  The  in 
scription  on  his  tombstone  in  Lebanon  truly  recites 

xln  "New  London  County  Historical  Society's  Records  and  Papers",  vol. 
2»  P-  329>  will  be  found  a  brief  sketch  of  the  career  of  the  first  Commissary 
General. 


172  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  "he  fell  a  victim"  to  the  "perpetual  cares  and 
fatigues"  of  his  office.  His  toilsome  career  was 
inconspicuous  and  soon  forgotten,  but  he  died  for 
his  country  as  truly  and  heroically  as  the  soldier 
who  falls  in  the  forefront  of  battle.  His  death  at 
the  age  of  forty-two  proved  to  be  one  of  his  father's 
saddest  losses  for  his  country's  cause. 

The  life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Junior,  the  next 
son,  resulted  in  more  distinguished  public  services 
and  offices  than  that  of  any  of  his  brothers.  His 
first  appointment  was  that  of  Deputy  Paymaster- 
general  for  the  Northern  Department  of  the  Con 
tinental  Army,  a  position  which  he  held  from  July 
28,  1775,  until  the  death  of  his  brother  Joseph  in 
1778.  In  November  of  that  year  he  was  appointed 
Comptroller  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States, 
which,  under  Roger  Sherman's  plan  of  organization, 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  this  department.  In 
1780,  he  was  appointed  first  aide  and  secretary  to 
Washington,  a  position  which  he  held  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  afterwards  held  the  positions  of 
Representative  and  Senator  from  Connecticut  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  from  1789  to 
1796,  when  he  resigned  his  senatorship  to  take  the 
position  of  Deputy  Governor  of  his  native  State, 
becoming  Governor  in  1798,  and  remaining  in  this 
office  until  his  death  in  1809. 

The  third  son,  David,  performed  services  for  his 
country  which  are  less  conspicuous  in  the  public 
records,  but  were  continuous  and  arduous,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war.  It  fell  to  his  lot 
to  remain  at  home,  where  he  appears  to  have  been 


JOHN,   SOLDIER  AND  ARTIST        173 

most  needed  in  the  absence  of  his  brothers;  but 
as  early  as  in  August,  1775,  we  find  that  he  is  credited 
with  "going  express  three  times  to  the  arrrfy"  to 
superintend  the  transportation  of  provisions  and 
to  deliver  despatches.  He  was  active  also  in  col 
lecting  arms  and  ammunition,  and  succeeded  in 
having  a  large  number  of  old  muskets  repaired 
and  made  serviceable  —  a  much  more  important 
service  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution  than  it  might 
be  now.  He  was  also  employed  in  securing  pro 
visions  under  contract  both  for  the  commissary  and 
quartermasters'  departments.  He  has  left  behind 
him  a  mass  of  accounts  and  correspondence  which 
show,  to  some  extent,  the  nature  and  constancy  of 
his  services.1 

The  career  of  the  youngest  son,  John,  is  described 
in  full  in  his  autobiography  and  in  other  publica 
tions  drawn  from  that  work.  It  was  a  career  more 
striking  and  perhaps  more  brilliant  than  that  of 
any  of  his  brothers,  due  to  the  spirited  character 
of  the  man,  and  to  his  inborn  taste  for  art.  He 
himself  forbids  us  to  call  this  genius,  for  he  says,  "I 
am  disposed  to  doubt  the  existence  of  such  a  prin 
ciple  in  the  human  mind."  However  this  may  be, 
he  is  remembered  to-day,  principally  if  not  solely, 
as  a  pioneer  in  American  art. 

His  taste  for  drawing  developed  at  so  early  an  age, 
that  during  his  college  course  it  gave  much  concern 
to  President  William  Kneeland  of  Harvard.  In  a 
letter  to  Governor  Trumbull  he  says,  after  speaking 
highly  of  the  young  man:  "I  find  he  has  a  natural 

1  Manuscript  collections  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society. 


174  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

talent  for  limning.  As  a  knowledge  of  that  art 
will  probably  be  of  no  use  to  him,  I  submit  to  your 
consideration  whether  it  would  not  be  best  to  en 
deavor  to  give  him  a  turn  to  the  study  of  perspec 
tive,  the  knowledge  of  which  will  at  least  be  a  genteel 
accomplishment,  and  may  be  greatly  useful  in  future 
life/' 

To  this  the  Governor  readily  assents,  having  al 
ready  formed  and  expressed  to  his  son  a  similar 
opinion.  And  even  after  the  Revolution  was  over, 
and  the  young  man  is  urged  by  his  father  to  take 
up  the  study  and  practice  of  law,  the  father  listens 
to  his  arguments  for  the  life  of  an  artist  and  with 
his  characteristic  grave  humor  reminds  him  that 
"Connecticut  is  not  Athens",  —  and  never  again 
attempts  to  influence  the  choice  of  his  career. 

He  commenced  his  military  life  as  an  aide  to 
General  Joseph  Spencer  in  the  First  Regiment  of 
Connecticut  troops,  which,  as  he  tells  us,  "started 
into  view  as  by  magic,  and  was  on  its  march  for 
Boston  before  the  ist  of  May"  [1775].  Washing 
ton's  attention  is  attracted  to  him  from  a  plan  of 
the  enemy's  works,  which  -  -  thanks  to  his  talent 
for  drawing  —  he  had  made  by  stealth  as  oppor 
tunity  offered.  He  is  appointed  second  aide  to 
the  Commander  in  Chief,  and  remains  with  the 
army  until  after  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  which 
event  he  describes  as  an  eye-witness.  In  June, 
1776,  he  is  promoted  to  the  position  of  adjutant 
to  General  Horatio  Gates,  and  performs  some  im 
portant  service  in  the  Northern  Department,  es 
pecially  in  showing  that  an  enemy  occupying  Mount 


JOHN  RETURNS  COMMISSION       175 

Defiance  could  render  Fort  Ticonderoga  untenable, 
a  fact  which  he  proved  by  experiment,  and  General 
Burgoyne  by  actual  practice,  in  a  way  to  causfe  the 
speedy  evacuation  of  Ticonderoga  by  St.  Clair. 

Young  Trumbull  had  been  appointed  adjutant 
with  the  rank  of  colonel  by  General  Gates,  who 
was  authorized  to  make  the  appointment.  Con 
gress  was  slow  in  issuing  the  commission,  and  when 
it  reached  the  young  officer  it  was  found  to  be  dated 
some  three  months  later  than  the  appointment  by 
Gates.  This  he  regarded  as  "an  insuperable  bar" 
to  accepting  it,  and  he  returned  the  commission  in  a 
curt  letter  to  the  Honorable  John  Hancock,  Presi 
dent  of  Congress,  informing  him  that  "a  soldier's 
honor  forbids  the  idea  of  giving  up  the  least  preten 
sion  to  rank."  This  terminated  his  regular  con 
nection  with  the  army,  although  he  volunteered  in 
the  following  year  as  an  aide  in  the  unsuccessful 
attempt  to  regain  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  from  the 
British.  Judging  from  his  father's  frequently  ex 
pressed  sentiments  in  similar  cases,  we  must  con 
clude  that  he  did  not  regard  his  young  son  of 
twenty-one  as  justified  in  his  resignation. 

This  decision  of  the  spirited  young  man  left  him 
free  to  resume  the  study  and  practice  of  his  favorite 
art  of  painting,  into  which  he  entered  with  zeal. 
Finding  but  little  encouragement  and  few  advan 
tages  for  perfecting  himself  in  the  art  in  Lebanon, 
or  even  in  Boston,  he  went  in  1780  to  London,  with 
letters  of  introduction  to  Benjamin  West,  under 
whose  auspices  he  was  much  helped  and  encouraged 
in  the  pursuit  of  his  chosen  profession. 


i76  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

With  varying  fortunes  and  through  interruptions 
and  obstacles,  he  continued  his  career  to  the  close 
of  his  long  life.  Foremost  among  his  numerous 
works  are  his  paintings  representing  the  men  and 
scenes  of  the  American  Revolution,  some  of  which 
are  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  others,  to  a 
large  number,  in  the  Yale  Art  Gallery.  His  work 
is  recognized  to-day  as  an  important  contribution  to 
American  art. 

The  early  death  of  Faith,  the  eldest  daughter 
of  Governor  Trumbull,  forms  one  of  the  saddest 
features  of  the  family  history.  In  May,  1766,  she 
married  Colonel  (afterwards  General)  Jedediah  Hunt- 
ington,  who  served  faithfully  and  with  distinction 
through  the  entire  war.  At  the  time  of  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill  she  was  visiting  the  army  near 
Boston,  with  a  party  of  young  friends,  awaiting 
the  arrival  of  her  husband,  whose  regiment  was 
then  on  its  march.  The  consequences  and  scenes 
of  the  battle  so  alarmed  her  sensitive  nature, 
through  solicitude  for  the  fate  of  her  husband  and 
brothers,  that  she  became  deranged,  in  which  con 
dition  she  lingered  with  some  hopes  of  recovery 
until  the  following  November,  when,  in  one  of 
her  more  acute  attacks,  she  committed  suicide. 
This  was  indeed  a  sad  blow  to  her  husband  and 
family,  and  the  letters  of  Governor  Trumbull  to  his 
bereaved  son-in-law  show  the  affection  in  which  he 
held  her,  and  his  grief  at  her  loss  in  these  trying 
times.  On  February  26,  1776,  he  writes: 

"The  world,  after  all,  is  a  little  pitiful  thing,  not 
performing  any  one  promise  it  makes  us,  and  every 


THE   TOUNGESr  DAUGHTER          177 

day  taking  away  and  annulling  the  joys  of  the  past. 
A  few  days  ago  I  had  a  dear  affectionate  daughter 
Faithy.  Alas!  she  is  no  more  with  us.  Le't  us 
comfort  one  another,  and  if  possible  study  to  add  as 
much  goodness,  love,  and  friendship  to  each  other 
as  death  has  deprived  us  of  in  her." 

Mary,  the  Governor's  fourth  child  and  youngest 
daughter,  married  William  Williams,  a  steadfast 
and  noted  patriot,  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  He  was  a  man  of  radical  views, 
both  in  politics  and  religion,  a  firm  believer  in  the 
justice  of  his  country's  cause,  and  fully  convinced 
that  any  disaster  to  our  arms  could  be  attributed 
to  the  wrathful  punishments  of  the  Supreme  Ruler, 
as  the  following  quotation  from  his  letter  of  Septem 
ber  20,  1776,  to  his  father-in-law  regarding  the 
evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  Americans  will 
show: 

"These  Events,  however  signal  advantage  gained 
by  our  oppressors,  and  the  distress  to  which  our 
Army  and  Country  are  and  must  be  subjected  in 
consequence  of  them,  are  loud  speaking  Testi 
monies  of  the  Displeasure  and  Anger  of  Almighty 
God  against  a  sinful  People,  louder  than  Sevenfold 
Thunder.  Is  it  possible  that  the  most  obdurate 
and  stupid  of  the  Children  of  America  should  not 
hear  and  tremble?" 

As  an  instance  of  his  outspoken  patriotism,  it 
is  recorded  of  him  that  when  he  spoke  of  having 
incurred  the  penalty  of  hanging  by  signing  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  one  of  his  neighbors 
replied  that  no  such  penalty  was  in  store  for  him, 


i78  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

as  he  had  not  entered  the  service  of  his  country. 
"Then,  sir/'  said  Williams,  "you  deserve  to  be 
hanged  for  not  doing  your  duty." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  married  life  of  William 
Williams  and  Mary  Trumbull  was  a  happy  one, 
for  they  were  in  accord  on  the  great  questions  of 
the  day,  and  contributed  much  to  the  comfort  of 
their  parents  in  Lebanon,  which  was  their  lifelong 
place  of  residence. 

Meantime,  it  should  be  remembered  that  during 
nearly  all  of  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution,  the 
faithful,  devoted  mother  was  at  her  post  in  Lebanon, 
with  her  brave,  inspiring  farewells  to  her  sons  who 
had  gone  to  the  front,  her  kind  and  friendly  aid 
to  her  neighbors,  and  her  sympathetic  and  helpful 
share  in  the  weighty  burden  of  cares  and  responsi 
bilities  under  which  her  husband  labored.  Spared 
to  him  through  forty-five  years  of  married  life,  she 
did  not  live  to  rejoice  with  him  in  the  final  triumph 
of  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself,  but 
lived  to  share  in  its  sternest  and  hardest  tasks 
with  him,  as  his  helpmeet  and  comfort. 

Thus  it  was  that  Governor  Trumbull  became  the 
head  of  a  family  of  stanch  patriots,  every  one  of 
whom  contributed  materially  to  the  cause  of  Amer 
ican  liberty  and  independence.  It  seems  best  to 
group  them  here,  though  their  careers  are,  to  a  great 
extent,  connected  with  the  events  which  we  are 
still  briefly  to  consider. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

RENEWED    CALLS    FOR    TROOPS  —  THE    NEW    YORK 
EXPEDITION  —  WASHINGTON'S  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS  — 

MORE    TROOPS THE    GOVERNOR'S    PROCLAMATION 

INDEPENDENCE  GOVERNOR     FRANKLIN  A   PRISONER 

ROW-GALLEYS    SENT   TO    NEW   YORK 

THE  year  1776  opened  with  calls  for  seven 
regiments  from  Connecticut;  and  within 
a  fortnight  we  find  Governor  Trumbull 
issuing  four  different  proclamations  for  recruit 
ing  these  regiments.  Of  these,  two  were  wanted 
for  special  service  in  New  York,  under  General 
Charles  Lee;  one  for  Canada,  and  four  for  the 
camp  near  Boston.  These  regiments  were  promptly 
furnished  by  reenlistments  and  new  enlistments, 
five  of  the  six  which  were  raised  in  the  previous 
April  being  reorganized  at  once. 

The  special  service  of  the  two  newly  raised  regi 
ments  for  New  York  is  worthy  of  passing  notice, 
if  only  to  show  the  promptness  with  which  they  were 
raised,  and  the  contributory  incompetence  of  the 
Continental  Congress  and  General  Charles  Lee  in 
making  their  services  of  little  or  no  avail.  The 
special  service  for  which  they  were  destined  was 
the  military  occupation  of  New  York.  Lee,  in 
whom  there  was  so  much  misplaced  confidence  at 
the  time,  represented  to  Washington  and  to  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  the  need  of  an  attack  upon  the 

179 


i8o  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

Tories  of  Long  Island,  and  of  formal  possession  of 
New  York  City,  as  imperative.  Washington's  good 
judgment  led  him  to  consult  John  Adams  as  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Commander  in  Chief  in  the 
matter,  and  the  advisability  of  the  expedition. 
Fortified  by  Adams'  plainly  expressed  views,  he 
proceeded  to  call  on  Governor  Trumbull,  early  in 
January  of  this  year,  for  two  regiments,  while  the 
Continental  Congress  called  on  New  Jersey  for 
minute  men,  and  ordered  an  attack  on  the  Tories 
of  Long  Island.  Colonel  Waterbury's  Connecticut 
regiment,  which  appeared  promptly,  was  ordered  by 
Congress  to  Oyster  Bay  to  cooperate  with  New 
Jersey  troops  for  this  expedition,  but  the  order  was 
countermanded  almost  as  soon  as  given,  and  was 
understood  by  Lee,  if  he  reports  himself  truly,  to 
be  an  order  for  this  regiment  to  disband.  But, 
Lee  reports  to  Washington,  "Governor  Trumbull, 
like  a  man  of  sense  and  spirit,  ordered  it  to  be  re 
assembled."  Waterbury  then  marched  his  regi 
ment  to  New  York,  where  he  found  some  difficulty 
in  getting  winter  quarters,  which  he  rather  peremp 
torily  occupied. 

And  as  if  the  Continental  Congress  had  not  given 
the  Governor  and  Council  trouble  enough,  Lee 
proceeds  to  send  home  the  other  Connecticut  regi 
ment —  Colonel  Andrew  Ward's -- because,  for 
sooth,  he  understood  that  the  Provincial  Congress 
of  New  York  had  authority  over  this  regiment 
which  superseded  his  own.  No  sooner  had  Colonel 
Ward  with  his  regiment  reached  the  disbanding 
point  than  Lee  writes  to  Governor  Trumbull  to 


MORE   TROOPS  SUPPLIED  181 

reorganize  it  if  disbanded  and  send  it  forward  at 
once,  the  little  misunderstanding  regarding  the 
authority  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  New' York 
having  been  satisfactorily  arranged  or  explained 
away  by  a  committee  from  the  Continental  Congress 
which  arrived  on  the  scene. 

The  principal  recorded  result  of  the  whole  ex 
pedition  appears  to  have  been  that  Lee  was  given 
an  opportunity  to  indulge  in  gasconading  to  an 
extent  which  must  have  satisfied  even  him  for  the 
time  being,  and  that  he  was  enabled  to  pose  as  a 
hero  by  being  borne  on  a  litter  from  Stamford  to 
New  York  while  suffering  from  an  attack  of  gout. 
Some  fortifications  were  built  about  the  city  and  its 
approaches  by  his  direction,  and  the  Connecticut 
regiments  had  some  share  in  the  work,  but  the  serious 
work  in  New  York  for  Connecticut  and  other  troops 
was  to  come,  as  events  proved,  seven  months  later. 

The  promptness  of  Connecticut  in  meeting  the 
requests  of  Washington  for  men,  through  his  corre 
spondence  with  Governor  Trumbull,  is  best  shown 
by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by 
Washington  on  January  20,  1776.  Speaking  of  the 
regiment  furnished  by  Connecticut  for  service  in 
Canada,  he  says. 

"The  early  attention  which  you  and  your  honour 
able  Council  have  paid  to  this  important  business, 
has  anticipated  my  requisition  and  claims,  in  a 
particular  manner,  the  thanks  of  every  well-wishing 
American" 

That  it  was  not  only  in  furnishing  men  but  in 
furnishing  materials  that  Connecticut  was  active, 


i82  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

may  be  learned  from  a  few  more  extracts  from 
Washington's  letters.  All  requests  and  requisitions 
which  he  made  upon  Connecticut  were  addressed 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  while  in  the  case  of  other 
colonies  such  requests  were  usually  addressed  to 
their  general  assemblies,  or  provincial  congresses. 

Writing  to  Governor  Trumbull  of  the  lack  of 
powder  for  the  army  before  Boston,  which,  with 
the  lack  of  men,  rendered  an  aggressive  movement 
unwise,  Washington  says  : 

"This  matter  is  mentioned  to  you  in  confidence. 
Your  zeal,  activity  and  attachment  to  the  cause, 
renders  it  unnecessary  to  conceal  it  from  you. 
Our  real  stock  of  powder,  which,  after  furnishing  the 
Militia,  (unfortunately  coming  in  without,  and  will 
require  upwards  of  fifty  barrels,)  and  completing 
our  other  troops  to  twenty-four  rounds  a  man, 
(which  are  less,  by  one-half,  than  the  Regulars 
have,)  and  having  a  few  rounds  of  cannon-cart 
ridges  fitted  for  immediate  use,  will  leave  us  not 
more  than  one  hundred  barrels  in  store  for  the 
greatest  emergency.  .  .  ." 

Here  again  Washington  finds  that  Governor  Trum 
bull  has  anticipated  his  wants,  for  three  days  later 
he  writes  to  the  Governor: 

"I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  J.  Huntington, 
Esq.,  with  the  agreeable  news  of  his  having  for 
warded  two  tons  of  powder  to  this  camp,  by  your 
order.  Accept,  sir,  of  my  thanks  for  this  seasonable 
supply." 

The  bloodless  victory  of  the  following  March, 
resulting  in  the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British, 


EVACUATION  OF  BOSTON  183 

called  for  less  of  Washington's  scant  supply  of 
powder  than  was  expected;  nevertheless,  quite  a 
quantity  of  Connecticut  powder  must  have'  been 
burned  in  the  frequent  cannonades  which  disguised 
the  real  movements  of  the  Continental  Army  under 
the  superb  generalship  of  Washington.  Of  Trum- 
bull's  rejoicing  in  this  victory  —  the  last  of  such 
rejoicing  in  this  memorable  year  —  we  learn  by  the 
following  extracts  from  his  letter  of  March  twenty- 
fifth  to  Washington: 

"I  do  most  heartily  congratulate  you  on  your 
success,  that,  after  a  long,  incessant,  and  persever 
ing  fatigue,  you  have  happily  caused  our  enemies 
to  evacuate  the  town  of  Boston,  to  leave  that  strong 
fortress  they  built  when  they  trampled  on  the  prop 
erties  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  distressed  town, 
profaned  the  sacred  places  dedicated  to  divine  wor 
ship  and  service,  and  designed  the  ruin  of  the  lives, 
properties,  and  liberties  of  our  whole  country. 
The  lustre  of  the  British  arms  is  tarnished.  By  a 
shameful  and  ignominious  retreat  they  have  lost 
their  honour,  —  indeed,  none  could  be  maintained  or 
gained  in  so  wicked  and  scandalous  a  cause." 

From  Boston  the  scene  of  military  operations  soon 
changes  to  New  York,  and  after  some  correspon 
dence  with  Trumbull,  resulting  in  the  sending  of 
two  regiments  of  Connecticut  militia  to  the  new 
field  of  operations,  Washington  himself  goes  to  this 
field,  by  way  of  Norwich,  Connecticut.  In  this 
town  the  two  patriots  meet  on  the  thirteenth  of 
April  at  the  house  of  General  Jabez  Huntington, 
and  here  they  discuss  matters  of  importance  re- 


184  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

garding  the  coming  campaign.  Lead  in  the  form 
of  -bullets  is  wanted  from  the  Middletown  mines, 
arms  repaired  under  the  direction  of  the  Governor's 
son  David  are  urgently  needed,  and  more  than  all, 
men  are  needed  to  make  up  the  deficiencies  in  the 
Continental  Army  from  which  men  had  been  quite 
freely  drawn  to  serve  in  the  northern  campaign. 
All  these  matters  receive  the  careful  and  prompt 
attention  of  the  Governor  and  his  Council,  and  soon 
afterwards  the  May  session  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut  convenes. 

This  session  is  a  memorable  one  if  only  for  the 
reason  that  its  record  omits  the  time-honored 
Latin  heading  designating  the  year  of  the  reign  of 
the  sovereign  of  Great  Britain,  whose  arms  no 
longer  embellish  the  public  acts  of  the  session.  His 
Majesty's  name  no  longer  appears  upon  the  legal 
writs  issued  from  this  time  forth,  but  in  its  stead 
appears  the  authority  of  the  Governor  and  Company 
of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  soon  to  be  called  the 
State  of  Connecticut. 

No  respite  is  given  the  busy  Governor  during  the 
short  interval  between  the  regular  May  session  of 
this  year  and  the  special  session  which  he  called  on 
the  fourteenth  of  the  following  June.  During  this 
interval  the  Council  of  Safety  remains  at  Hartford 
holding  frequent  meetings  to  audit  accounts,  to 
provide  for  naval  affairs,  and  to  discuss  various 
matters  of  public  interest.  Naval  affairs  especially 
occupy  much  of  the  time  and  attention  of  the 
Council.  Privateers  are  fitted  out,  the  building 
of  a  man-of-war  is  being  hurried  forward  at  Say- 


PLANS  FOR  INDEPENDENCE         185 

brook,  and  the  row-galleys  built  at  Norwich  and 
Haddam  are  christened  respectively  the  Shark  and 
the  Crane,  and  made  ready  for  the  service  tp  which 
in  a  few  months  they  will  be  called  on  the  Hudson 
River. 

The  special  June  session  of  the  General  Assembly 
lost  no  time  in  instructing  the  Connecticut  dele 
gates  to  the  Continental  Congress  to  declare  for 
independence.  On  the  first  day  of  the  session, 
after  a  preamble  of  no  uncertain  sound,  it  was 

"Resolved  unanimously  by  this  Assembly,  That 
the  Delegates  of  this  Colony  in  General  Congress 
be  and  they  are  hereby  instructed  to  propose  to 
that  respectable  body,  to  declare  the  United  States, 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great 
Britain,  and  to  give  the  assent  of  this  Colony  to 
such  declaration  when  they  shall  judge  it  expedient 
and  best,  and  to  whatever  measures  may  be  thought 
proper  and  necessary  by  the  Congress  for  forming 
foreign  alliances,  or  any  plan  of  operation  for  neces 
sary  and  mutual  defence.  ..." 

Immediately  following  this  resolve,  is  an  act  for 
raising  two  battalions  to  join  the  Continental  Army 
in  Canada,  and  for  raising  seven  battalions  for  New 
York,  showing,  as  usual,  that  deeds,  not  words, 
constituted  the  motto  of  Connecticut  under  the 
inspiration  of  her  Governor.  To  give  force  to  these 
acts,  a  proclamation  was  issued  on  the  eighteenth  of 
June  which,  by  no  great  straining  of  definition,  has 
been  called  Connecticut's  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  and  which,  singularly  enough,  did  not  re 
appear  in  print  from  the  time  when  it  was  pub- 


186  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

lished  as  a  broadside  in  1776  until  1890,  when  it  was 
published  in  the  Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut 
by  Doctor  Charles  J.  Hoadley.  It  seems  well  to 
give  it  in  full  here  as  a  specimen  of  one  of  the  most 
urgent  and,  for  the  time,  impressive  of  the  Gover 
nor's  proclamations  which  have  been  preserved  to 
us: 

"By  the  Honorable  Jonathan  Trumbull  Esq; 
Governor  and  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  English 
Colony  of  Connecticut  in  New  England. 

"A  PROCLAMATION 

"The  Race  of  Mankind  was  made  in  a  State  of 
Innocence  and  Freedom,  subjected  only  to  the  laws 
of  GOD  THE  CREATOR,  and  through  his  rich  Goodness, 
designed  for  virtuous  Liberty  and  Happiness  here 
and  forever;  and  when  moral  Evil  was  introduced 
into  the  World,  and  Man  had  corrupted  his  ways 
before  GOD,  Vice  and  Iniquity  came  in  like  a  Flood, 
and  Mankind  became  exposed,  and  a  prey  to  the 
Violence,  Injustice  and  Oppression  of  one  another. 
GOD,  in  his  great  Mercy,  inclined  his  People  to  form 
themselves  into  Society,  and  to  set  up  and  establish 
civil  Government  for  the  Protection  and  Security 
of  their  Lives  and  Properties  from  the  Invasion  of 
wicked  Men:  But  through  Pride  and  Ambition,  the 
Kings  and  Princes  of  the  World,  appointed  by  the 
People  the  Guardians  of  their  Lives  and  Liberties, 
early  and  almost  universally  degenerated  into 
Tyrants,  and  by  Fraud  or  Force  betrayed  and 
wrested  out  of  their  Hands  the  very  Rights  and 
Properties  they  were  appointed  to  protect  and 


A  PROCLAMATION  187 

defend.  But  a  small  part  of  the  Human  Race 
maintained  and  enjoyed  any  tolerable  degree  of 
Freedom.  Among  these  happy  Few  the  Najion  of 
Great  Britain  was  distinguished,  by  a  Constitution 
of  Government  wisely  framed  and  modelled,  to 
support  the  Dignity  and  Power  of  the  Prince,  for 
the  protection  of  the  Rights  of  the  People;  and 
under  which  that  Country  in  long  Succession, 
enjoyed  great  Tranquility  and  Peace,  though  not 
unattended  with  repeated  and  powerful  Efforts, 
by  many  of  it's  haughty  Kings,  to  destroy  the 
constitutional  Rights  of  the  People,  and  establish 
arbitrary  Power  and  Dominion.  In  one  of  those 
convulsive  struggles,  our  Forefathers  having  suffered 
in  that,  their  native  Country,  great  and  variety 
of  Injustice  and  Oppression,  left  their  dear  Connec 
tions  and  Enjoyments,  and  fled  to  this  then  in 
hospitable  Land,  to  secure  a  lasting  Retreat  from 
civil  and  religious  Tyranny. 

"The  GOD  of  Heaven  favored  and  prospered 
their  Undertaking  —  made  Room  for  their  Settle 
ment  —  increased  and  multiplied  them  to  a  very 
numerous  People,  and  inclined  succeeding  King's 
to  indulge  them  and  their  Children  for  many  Years, 
the  unmolested  Enjoyment  of  the  Freedom  and 
Liberty  they  fled  to  inherit:  But,  an  unnatural 
King  has  risen  up  --violated  his  sacred  Obligations, 
and  by  the  Advice  of  evil  Counsellors,  attempted  to 
wrest  from  us,  their  Children,  the  sacred  Rights 
we  justly  claim,  and  which  have  been  ratified  and 
established  by  solemn  Compact  with,  and  recog 
nized  by,  his  Predecessors  and  Fathers,  King's  of 


i88  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Great  Britain -- laid  upon  us  Burdens  too  heavy 
and  grievous  to  be  born,  and  issued  many  cruel 
and  oppressive  Edicts,  depriving  us  of  our  natural, 
lawful,  and  most  important  Rights,  and  subjecting 
us  to  the  absolute  Power  and  Control  of  himself, 
and  the  British  Legislature,  against  which  we  have 
sought  Relief  by  humble,  earnest  and  dutiful  Com 
plaints  and  Petitions:  But  instead  of  obtaining 
Redress,  our  Petitions  have  been  treated  with 
Scorn  and  Contempt,  and  fresh  Injuries  heaped 
upon  us,  while  hostile  Armies  and  Ships  are  sent  to 
destroy  and  lay  waste  our  Country.  In  this  dis 
tressing  Dilemma,  having  no  Alternative  but  ab 
solute  Slavery,  or  successful  Resistance;  this,  and 
the  United  American  Colonies,  have  been  constrained 
by  the  over-ruling  Laws  of  Self-Preservation,  to 
take  up  Arms  for  the  Defence  of  all  that  is  sacred 
and  dear  to  Freemen,  and  make  their  solemn  Appeal 
to  Heaven  for  the  Justice  of  their  Cause,  and  resist 
Force  by  Force. 

"Goo  ALMIGHTY  has  been  pleased,  of  his  infinite 
Mercy,  to  succeed  our  Attempts,  and  give  us  many 
Instances  of  signal  Success  and  Deliverance;  but 
the  Wrath  of  the  King  is  still  increasing,  and  not 
content  with  before  employing  all  the  Force  which 
can  be  sent  from  his  own  Kingdom  to  execute  his 
cruel  Purposes,  has  procured,  and  is  sending  all  the 
Mercenaries  he  can  obtain  from  foreign  Countries, 
to  assist  in  extirpating  the  Rights  of  America,  and 
with  their's,  almost  all  the  Liberty  remaining  among 
Mankind. 

"In   this    most    critical    and    alarming  Situation, 


A  PROCLAMATION  189 

this,  and  all  the  Colonies,  are  called  upon,  and 
earnestly  pressed,  by  the  Honorable  CONGRESS 
of  the  American  Colonies,  united  for  mutuaj  De 
fence,  to  raise  a  large  additional  Number  of  their 
Militia  and  able  Men,  to  be  furnished  and  equipped 
with  all  possible  Expedition,  for  defence  against  the 
soon  expected  Attack  and  Invasion  of  those  who 
are  our  Enemies  without  a  Cause.  In  chearful 
Compliance  with  which  Request,  and  urged  by 
Motives  the  most  cogent  and  important  that  can 
affect  the  human  Mind,  the  General  Assembly  of 
this  Colony  have  freely  and  unanimously  agreed 
and  resolved,  that  upwards  of  Seven  Thousand 
able  and  effective  Men  be  immediately  raised, 
furnished  and  equipped,  for  the  great  and  interesting 
Purposes  aforesaid.  And  not  Desirous  that  any 
should  go  to  a  Warfare  at  their  own  Charges,  (though 
equally  interested  with  others)  for  Defence  of  the 
great  and  all-important  Cause  for  which  we  are 
engaged,  have  granted  large  and  liberal  Pay  and 
Encouragements,  to  all  who  shall  voluntarily  under 
take  for  the  Defence  of  themselves  and  their  Country, 
as  by  their  Acts  may  appear. 

"I  DO  THEREFORE,  by  and  with  the  Advice  of 
the  Council,  and  at  the  desire  of  the  Representatives 
in  General  Court  assembled,  issue  this  PROCLA 
MATION,  and  make  the  solemn  Appeal  of  said 
Assembly  to  the  Virtue  and  public  Spirit  of  the 
good  People  of  this  Colony.  Affairs  are  hastening 
fast  to  a  Crisis,  and  the  approaching  Campaign 
will,  in  all  Probability,  determine  forever  the  fate 
of  America.  If  this  should  be  successful  on  our 


190  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Side,  there  is  little  to  fear  on  Account  of  any  other. 
Be  exhorted  to  rise,  therefore,  to  superior  Exertions 
on  this  great  Occasion;  and  let  all  that  are  able  and 
necessary,  shew  themselves  ready  in  Behalf  of 
their  injured  and  oppressed  Country,  and  come 
forth  to  the  Help  of  the  LORD  against  the  Mighty, 
and  convince  the  unrelenting  Tyrant  of  Britain 
that  they  are  resolved  to  be  FREE.  Let  them  step 
forth  to  defend  their  Wives,  their  little  Ones,  their 
Liberty,  and  everything  they  hold  sacred  and  dear, 
to  defend  the  cause  of  their  Country,  their  Religion 
and  their  GOD.  Let  every  one  to  the  utmost  of  their 
Power,  lend  a  helping  Hand  to  promote  and  forward 
a  Design  on  which  the  Salvation  of  America  now 
evidently  depends.  Nor  need  any  be  dismayed: 
the  Cause  is  certainly  a  just  and  glorious  one. 
GOD  is  able  to  save  us  in  such  Way  and  Manner  as 
he  pleases,  and  to  humble  our  proud  Oppressors. 
The  Cause  is  that  of  Truth  and  Justice:  he  has 
already  shown  his  Power  in  our  behalf,  and  for 
the  Destruction  of  many  of  our  Enemies.  Our 
Fathers  trusted  in  him  and  were  delivered.  Let  us 
all  repent,  and  thoroughly  amend  our  Ways,  and 
turn  to  him,  put  all  our  Trust  and  Confidence  in 
him --in  his  Name  go  forth,  and  in  his  Name  set 
up  our  Banners,  and  he  will  save  us  with  temporal 
and  eternal  Salvation.  And  while  our  Armies  are 
abroad,  jeoparding  their  Lives  in  the  high  Places 
of  the  Field,  let  all  who  remain  at  Home,  cry  mightily 
to  GOD  for  the  Protection  of  his  Providence,  to 
shield  and  defend  their  lives  from  Death,  and  to 
crown  them  with  Victory  and  Success.  And  in  the 


INDEPENDENCE  191 

Name  of  the  said  General  Assembly,  I  do  hereby 
earnestly  recommend  it  to  all,  both  Ministers  and 
People,  frequently  to  meet  together  for  Social 
Prayer  to  ALMIGHTY  GOD,  for  the  out-pouring  of  his 
blessed  Spirit  upon  this  guilty  Land --that  he 
would  awaken  his  People  to  Righteousness  and 
Repentance  —  bless  our  Councils  --  prosper  our 
Arms,  and  succeed  the  measures  using  for  our 
necessary  Self-Defence  —  disappoint  the  evil  and 
cruel  Devices  of  our  Enemies  —  preserve  our  pre 
cious  Rights  and  Liberties  —  lengthen  out  our  Tran- 
quility,  and  make  us  a  People  of  his  Praise,  and 
blessed  of  the  LORD,  as  long  as  the  Sun  and  Moon 
shall  endure. 

AND  all  the  Ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  this  Colony, 
are  directed  and  desired  to  publish  this  Procla 
mation  in  their  several  Churches  and  Congrega 
tions,  and  to  enforce  the  Exhortations  thereof  by 
their  own  pious  Example  and  public  Instructions. 

"  GIVEN  under  my  hand,  at  the  Council  Chamber  in 
Hartford,  the  iSth  day  of  June,  Anno  Domini  1776. 
"JONATHAN  TRUMBULL." 

On  the  twelfth  of  the  following  July  the  news  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  officially  received  by  the  Council  of  Safety. 
It  was  "largely  discoursed"  by  that  body,  but  it 
was  decided  to  postpone  action  regarding  it  until 
the  next  regular  session  of  the  General  Assembly. 
The  Governor  evidently  took  its  adoption  as  a 
matter  of  course,  after  the  resolutions  adopted  re 
garding  it  at  the  May  session,  and  the  course  pur- 


192  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

sued  by  that  session  in  ignoring  the  sovereign  of 
England  for  the  first  time.  He  therefore  did  not 
see  fit  to  call  an  extra  session  simply  for  proclaiming 
officially  something  which  had  been  already  prac 
tically  proclaimed  and  adopted. 

This  same  Fourth  of  July,  1776,  was  made  memor 
able  to  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Safety  by  the 
appearance  before  them  of  Governor  William  Frank 
lin  of  New  Jersey,  who  had  been  sent  by  the  Con 
tinental  Congress  "under  guard  to  Governor  Trum- 
bull,  who  is  desired  to  take  his  parole;  and  if  Mr. 
Wm.  Franklin  refuse  to  give  his  parole,  that  Gover 
nor  Trumbull  be  desired  to  treat  him  agreeable  to 
the  resolutions  of  Congress  respecting  prisoners." 
He  had  been  described  by  the  Convention  of  New 
Jersey  as  "a  virulent  enemy  to  this  country",  and 
after  several  changes  of  residence  under  parole,  he 
was  at  last  placed  in  confinement,  owing  to  his 
attempts  to  circulate  Lord  Howe's  olive-branch 
proclamations  and  various  similar  proceedings.  After 
an  enforced  residence  in  Connecticut  for  about  two 
years,  he  was  at  last  exchanged;  and  from  the  time 
of  his  exchange  he  ceased  to  be  a  political  factor  in 
the  American  Revolution,  warned,  no  doubt,  by 
his  experience  in  Connecticut. 

Meantime,  the  seven  battalions  for  New  York 
are  being  raised  and  equipped  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  Governor's  proclamation,  and  seven  well 
organized  regiments  of  Connecticut  militia  are  sent 
to  New  York  for  service  under  Washington,  and 
at  his  special  request.  It  is  a  busy  time,  too,  in 
naval  affairs.  The  row-galleys  Whiting  and  Crane, 


NAVAL  AFFAIRS  193 

soon  to  be  followed  by  the  Shark,  are  sent  to  New 
York  to  make  trouble  for  the  British  fleet  on  the 
Hudson.  Captain  Harding,  with  his  brig  Defence, 
reports  sundry  prizes  taken  to  Boston  to  avoid 
recapture;  and  Long  Island  Sound  is  as  thoroughly 
patrolled  as  possible  by  the  odd  craft  of  the  im 
provised  Connecticut  navy,  resulting  in  the  capture 
of  quantities  of  provisions  intended  for  the  enemy, 
all  of  which  is  faithfully  reported  by  the  Governor 
to  his  constant  correspondent,  Washington.  So 
important  had  this  matter  become,  both  from  the 
capture  of  merchant  vessels  by  the  enemy,  and  the 
illicit  trade  carried  on  by  "evil  minded  persons", 
that  the  Governor  issued  orders  at  this  time  for  the 
detention  of  all  vessels  laden  with  provisions  until 
proper  examination  could  be  made,  or  the  Con 
tinental  Congress  or  the  provincial  Congresses  having 
jurisdiction  should  be  notified  of  the  hazard  of 
capture  by  the  enemy,  and  give  their  orders  to  the 
vessels  under  their  control. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

DARK  DAYS --URGENT  CALLS  FOR  TROOPS TRUM- 

BULL'S  ACTIVE  MEASURES — MILITIA  REGIMENTS  DE 
SPATCHED  TO  NEW  YORK  —  DEMANDS  OF  THE  NORTH 
ERN  ARMY  —  TRUMBULL'S  RELATIONS  TO  SCHUYLER 

SUPPLIES     AND     MEN     HURRIED      FORWARD SEC 
TIONAL   JEALOUSIES 

FROM  the  time  we  are  now  considering,  the 
darkest  days  of  the  American  Revolution 
begin.  The  anxious  patriots  are  looking 
forward  with  a  solicitude  which  in  the  light  of 
subsequent  events  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  under 
stand,  to  the  general  engagement  impending  at 
New  York.  We  have  seen  by  the  Governor's  procla 
mation  of  June  eighteenth  that  it  was  then  believed 
that  the  coming  campaign  would  "in  all  probabil 
ity  determine  the  fate  of  America."  This  belief  was 
the  result  of  correspondence  with  Washington  and 
with  Congress,  a  correspondence  in  which  the 
urgent  need  of  men  was  set  forth  in  the  most  im 
pressive  terms. 

Again  the  active  exertions  of  the  Governor  in 
raising  troops  and  forwarding  them  to  the  front 
anticipate  Washington's  urgent  demands.  His 
promptness  and  activity  are  best  explained  in  his 
own  words  in  a  letter  to  Washington  written  on 

July  6,  1776: 

194 


LETTER   TO   WASHINGTON  195 

"SiR:  I  wrote  this  day  to  the  Continental  Congress 
that  the  ancient  laws  of  this  Colony  enable  the 
Colonels  of  the  Militia  to  call  out  their  respective 
regiments  upon  any  alarm,  invasion,  or  appearance 
of  the  enemy,  by  sea  or  land,  giving  notice  to  the 
Captain-General  or  Commander-in-Chief  for  the 
time  being,  of  the  occasion  thereof.  This,  with  a 
general  order  to  them  to  call  out  their  regiments 
upon  notice  from  General  Washington,  or  the  Com 
mander-in-Chief  for  the  time  being,  to  march  to  his 
assistance,  may  supersede  the  necessity  of  any  new 
regulation  in  respect  to  the  Militia,  at  least  until 
the  next  Assembly,  as  it  is  very  inconvenient  for 
them  to  come  together  at  this  busy  season." 

In  accordance  with  this  "  ancient  law  of  the  Colony  " 
which  the  Governor  fits  to  the  occasion,  he  issues 
general  orders  to  the  commanding  officers  of  the 
five  Connecticut  regiments  stationed  nearest  to  the 
New  York  border  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  move  as  Washington  may  direct.  The  regiments 
of  Connecticut  "Lighthorse"  are  also  reported  to 
be  "moving  on  fast"  towards  New  York,  where 
upon  their  arrival  it  is  found  necessary  to  disband 
them,  owing  to  the  absence  of  forage  and  the  un 
willingness  of  the  men  and  officers  to  serve  without 
their  horses. 

Before  Washington  had  received  the  letter  in 
forming  him  of  the  orders  given  to  the  five  regiments 
of  militia,  he  had,  on  the  seventh  of  July,  written 
Governor  TrumbuH,  giving  the  latest  intelligence 
received  from  the  enemy,  which  showed  that  their 
force  already  assembled  and  daily  expected  would 


196  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

be  more  formidable  than  it  was  at  first  supposed  to 
be,  and  adding: 

"The  interests  of  America  are  now  in  the  balance, 
and  it  behooves  all  attached  to  her  sacred  cause, 
and  the  rights  of  humanity,  to  hold  forth  their  ut 
most  and  most  speedy  aid.  I  am  convinced  nothing 
will  be  wanting  in  your  power  to  effect." 

Within  a  month  from  this  time  the  situation  be 
came  still  more  alarming.  Washington  writes  to 
Governor  Trumbull  on  the  seventh  of  August  that 
the  British  forces  concentrating  at  New  York  by 
the  most  reliable  accounts  reached  the  number  of 
thirty  thousand,  while  the  number  of  American 
soldiers  fit  for  duty  was  10,514  men,  mostly  raw 
troops,  scattered  over  a  distance  of  some  fifteen  miles. 

To  this  alarming  letter  Trumbull  replies : 

"Your  favor  of  the  yth  instant  by  Mr.  Root,  and 
the  intelligence  it  contains,  has  given  me  great 
concern  and  anxiety.  The  soon-expected  strength 
of  the  enemy  and  the  weakness  of  your  army  were 
equally  unforeseen  and  surprising.  .  .  . 

"Immediately  upon  receipt  of  your  letter  I 
summoned  my  Council  of  Safety  and  ordered  nine 
regiments  of  our  militia,  in  addition  to  the  five 
Western  regiments,  fourteen  in  the  whole,  to  march 
without  loss  of  time  and  join  you,  under  the  com 
mand  of  Oliver  Wolcott,  Esq.,  colonel  of  the  Nine 
teenth  Regiment,  as  their  brigadier-general,  who 
is  appointed  and  commissioned  to  that  office.  These 
orders  are  accompanied  with  the  most  pressing 
recommendation  of  speedily  carrying  them  into 
execution. 


CONNECTICUT  TROOPS  197 

"I  have  likewise  proposed  that  companies  of 
volunteers,  consisting  of  able-bodied  men  not  in 
the  militia,  should  associate  and  march  to  /your 
assistance  under  officers  they  should  choose,  and 
have  promised  them  like  wages  and  allowance  of 
provisions,  etc.,  as  the  Continental  Army  receive. 
Some  such  companies  are  formed,  and  expect  more 
will  be.  Whatever  their  number  may  be,  they  will 
be  ordered  to  join  some  one  of  our  militia  regiments, 
and  submit  themselves  to  the  command  of  their 
field  officers  while  they  continue  in  service. 

"Colonel  Ward's  regiment  is  on  the  march  to 
join.  I  am  far  from  trusting  merely  in  the  justice 
of  our  cause ;  I  consider  that  as  a  just  ground  to  hope 
for  the  smiles  of  Heaven  on  our  exertions,  which 
ought  to  be  the  greatest  in  our  power." 

From  all  the  correspondence  with  Washington, 
it  appears  that  twenty-one  regiments  of  Connecticut 
militia  were  sent  forward  to  New  York,  in  addition 
to  the  Continental  troops  of  the  State  already  in 
the  service.  The  old  Connecticut  hero,  Putnam, 
is  placed  in  command  at  the  disastrous  battle  of 
Long  Island,  in  which  the  Americans  were  out 
numbered  two  to  one.  The  services  of  Connecticut 
men  in  this  battle,  in  the  masterly  retreat  from 
Brooklyn  Heights,  and  in  the  subsequent  retreat 
through  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  were  active  and 
important.  History  cannot  forget  the  brave  Knowl- 
ton  who  fell  at  the  head  of  his  gallant  band  in  the 
battle  of  Harlem  Heights  and  the  sacrifice  of  Nathan 
Hale  will  always  form  an  example  of  the  purest, 
self-forgetting  patriotism  which  history  records. 


i98  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

All  this  important  and  engrossing  service  formed, 
however,  only  a  portion  of  the  weighty  cares  and 
responsibilities  under  which  the  veteran  Governor 
of  Connecticut  labored  at  this  time.  The  demands 
which  the  northern  army  under  General  Schuyler 
was  making  upon  him  through  the  gloomy  and 
anxious  northern  campaign  of  1776  were  constant 
and  of  vital  importance.  The  enlistment  of  Con 
necticut  men  for  this  campaign  was  sadly  impeded 
by  the  prevalence  of  smallpox  in  the  northern  army, 
and  much  of  Trumbull's  correspondence  with  Wash 
ington  and  Schuyler  refers  to  the  prevention  of  this 
scourge  by  the  process  of  inoculation,  and  by  separat 
ing  the  infected  from  the  immunes  and  disinfected. 
Trumbull  writes  to  Schuyler  on  the  fifth  of  July 
of  this  year:  "The  smallpox  in  our  northern  army 
carries  with  it  much  greater  dread  than  our  enemies." 
He  sends  Doctor  Ely  to  consult  with  Schuyler's 
doctors,  and  to  report  upon  the  real  state  of  affairs, 
in  the  hope  that  one  so  well  acquainted  with  the 
disease  and  its  treatment  may  be  able  to  reassure 
the  timid  on  his  return,  and  to  advise  means  of 
protection  in  camp. 

At  this  time  the  relations  between  Trumbull  and 
Schuyler  appear  to  be  quite  intimate.  Ship  car 
penters  are  needed  for  the  seemingly  impossible 
task  of  building  a  navy  from  the  forests  of  New 
York  and  Vermont,  and  are  promptly  sent  forward 
from  Connecticut  upon  Schuyler's  request  to  the 
Governor.  Axes  are  needed  to  fell  the  trees  of  these 
forests,  and  one  thousand  good  axes  "ground  and 
helved"  are  sent  from  Connecticut  within  a  month 


TRUMBULL  AND  SCHUTLER         199 

from  the  date  of  Schuyler's  letter  asking  for  them. 
In  this  letter  he  says  to  Governor  Trumbull  : 

"Your  Honor's  goodness,  and  the  despatch >with 
which  everything  comes  from  you,  will  expose  you 
to  much  trouble,  and  many  applications,  but  as  I 
know  where  your  consolation  lies,  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  beg  your  assistance  on  this  occasion." 

These  axes  doubtless  did  good  service  in  felling 
the  trees  from  which  an  improvised  navy  was 
built,  and  a  year  later,  after  the  gallant  resistance 
by  this  little  navy  under  Arnold,  at  Lake  Champlain, 
did  equally  good,  or  more  efficient  service,  in  felling 
the  trees  which  reduced  the  speed  of  Burgoyne's 
advance  to  twenty  miles  in  twenty  days  at  a  time 
when  speed  was  his  only  salvation.  Sailors  are 
soon  wanted  for  the  improvised  navy,  and  upon 
Schuyler's  request  Governor  Trumbull  commissions 
Captains  Seth  Warner,  David  Hawley  and  Frederick 
Chappell  each  to  raise  a  company  of  seamen,  at 
the  same  time  asking  Washington  to  allow  some  of 
these  men  to  be  taken  from  the  Connecticut  militia 
then  in  service  in  New  York.  The  northern  fleet 
on  Lake  Champlain  is  also  further  equipped  with 
cannons  and  balls  from  the  Salisbury  furnace,  whose 
operations  Governor  Trumbull  and  his  Council  are 
continually  watching  and  directing.  Sail  cloth  and 
cordage  are  also  sent  from  Middletown  under  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull's  supervision. 

Not  only  in  supplying  materials,  but  in  the  use 
of  his  influence  and  diplomatic  tact,  are  the  Gov 
ernor's  services  called  into  request.  One  of  the 
greatest  and  most  insidious  difficulties  with  which 


200  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  chivalrous  Schuyler  had  to  contend  was  local 
jealousy.  He  occupied  the  unenviable  position  of 
a  New  York  general  commanding  forces  of  which 
a  large  majority  were  from  New  England.  They 
were  suspicious  of  him,  and  were  only  too  ready  to 
believe  any  false  reports  regarding  him  which  were 
spread  abroad  by  his  enemies  and  by  the  common 
enemy.  The  spirit  of  discord  entered  into  the  army, 
at  first  manifesting  itself  only  by  rumors  and  dis 
sensions,  but  gradually  gaining  ground,  as  the 
schemer  Gates  appeared  on  the  scene.  On  the 
thirteenth  of  July  we  find  Schuyler  writing  to 
Governor  Trumbull  as  follows : 

"Numerous  and  formidable  as  our  enemies  are, 
I  cannot  despair  of  success  against  them,  provided 
we  are  unanimous.  I  mention  this  because  of  the 
unhappy  dissensions  in  the  Northern  Army,  where 
some  unfriendly  or  unthinking  people  have  set  up 
Colonial  distinctions.  I  have  always  deprecated 
every  attempt  to  divide  us,  by  that  or  any  other 
means;  and  when  I  was  last  at  Crown-Point,  I 
convened  the  commanding  officer  of  every  corps, 
and  pointed  out,  in  the  most  forcible  manner  I  was 
capable  of,  the  danger  of  such  distinctions,  and  how 
much  and  how  justly  the  enemy  would  exult  to  learn 
it.  The  goodness  of  your  heart,  my  dear  sir,  and 
your  zeal  for  our  cause,  will  induce  you  to  give  me 
all  the  assistance  in  your  power  to  eradicate  this 
evil.  But  whilst  I  entreat  you  to  recommend  to  the 
troops  from  your  colony  to  cultivate  harmony,  I 
would  not  wish  to  be  understood  that  they  have 
been  the  promoters  or  principal  supporters  of  the 


LETTER   TO  SCHUTLER  201 

unhappy  dissensions;  on  the  contrary,  I  have 
reason  to  believe  them  as  little  culpable  as  any." 

To  this  letter  Governor  Trumbull  replies  on/  the 
thirty-first  of  July,  as  follows : 

"It  gives  me  great  concern  to  hear  that  dissen 
sions  prevail  in  the  Northern  Army,  and  that  they 
are  inflamed  and  kept  up  by  Colonial  distinctions. 
I  have,  agreeable  to  your  request,  recommended 
to  the  troops  from  this  Government  to  cultivate 
harmony  and  a  good  understanding  with  the  troops 
from  other  States  as  well  as  among  themselves,  and 
have  pressed  it  upon  them  with  all  the  earnestness 
the  nature  and  importance  of  the  subject  requires. 
I  shall  be  very  happy  to  find  anything  I  have  done, 
or  can  do,  may  contribute  towards  eradicating  this 
evil." 

Notwithstanding  the  Governor's  good  offices  in 
the  matter,  the  trouble  continued.  Reports  were 
circulated  throughout  New  England  reflecting  seri 
ously  on  Schuyler's  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  his  coun 
try,  and  causing  him  to  write  again  to  Governor 
Trumbull  on  the  twentieth  of  August : 

"I  am  informed  that  forces  that  went  from  hence 
to  Connecticut  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  in 
crease  the  jealousies  that  so  unjustly  prevail  against 
me  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Conscious 
of  the  rectitude  of  my  conduct,  I  should  pass  by  in 
silent  contempt  every  infamous  traduction,  did  I 
not  apprehend  that  silence  would  be  construed  as 
a  tacit  avowal  of  my  guilt.  I  have  therefore  en 
treated  Congress  for  a  minute  inquiry  into  my 
conduct.  ." 


202  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

To  this  Governor  Trumbull  replies  on  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  August : 

"Your  assiduous  attention  to  the  great  concerns 
of  the  publick  at  this  important  period  is,  in  the 
minds  of  the  considerate,  a  most  undissembled 
declaration  of  your  hearty  attachment  to  the  interest 
of  the  United  States  of  America.  Whatever  reports 
may  have  been  spread  by  the  disaffected,  or  opin 
ions  had  by  the  mistaken  or  ill-informed,  I  hope 
neither  your  character  nor  the  cause  of  our  country 
will  eventually  suffer  thereby.  As  to  Tories,  no 
very  good  offices  to  one  in  your  place  can  be  ex 
pected  from  them.  I  flatter  myself  that  no  misrep 
resentations  of  theirs  will  have  credit  enough  in 
this  State  greatly  to  wound  your  character  or 
prevent  your  usefulness.  It  requires  the  wisdom 
of  a  Solomon  and  the  patience  of  a  Job  to  endure 
traduction,  or  regard  a  slander  with  the  contempt 
it  deserves.  I  heartily  wish  the  injury  may  not 
give  too  much  anxiety  to  a  mind  possessed  of  a 
conscious  rectitude  of  intention/' 

The  Governor's  son  Jonathan  had  already  warned 
Schuyler  that  the  false  reports  of  treason,  embezzle 
ment,  etc.,  had  reached  Connecticut,  where,  as  his 
correspondents  inform  Trumbull,  these  reports  did 
not  have  "their  designed  effect."  The  veteran 
Putnam  also  writes  that  "the  late  reports  were 
raised  by  people  notoriously  inimical  to  this  country, 
and  that  it  was  done  with  a  view  of  dividing  us." 
He  expresses  the  confidence  of  himself  and  his  col 
leagues  in  Schuyler's  patriotism,  zeal  and  honesty. 

Unfortunately,  the  official  relations  between  Schuy- 


CONFLICT  OF  AUTHORITY  203 

ler  and  one  of  Governor  Trumbull's  sons  —  Joseph, 
the  Commissary  General  of  the  Continental  Army 
—  were  strained  at  this  time  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  result  in  an  open  rupture  between  them.  The 
other  two  sons,  Jonathan  and  John,  who  were  both 
in  the  northern  army  at  this  time,  appear  to  have 
been  on  the  best  terms  with  Schuyler.  The  merits 
of  the  dispute  between  Commissary  General  Trum- 
bull  and  General  Schuyler  hardly  concern  us  in 
this  connection;  but  as  the  matter  may  be  cited  as 
a  moving  cause  for  Governor  Trumbull  to  regard 
Schuyler  unkindly,  it  is  well  to  state  the  case  briefly. 
Upon  Schuyler's  appointment  to  the  command  of 
the  northern  army,  he  was  clothed  with  vague,  but 
sweeping  authority  by  Congress  to  provide  every 
thing  necessary  for  the  army.  This  authority 
might  easily  be  construed  to  extend  to  the  Com 
missary  Department.  Walter  Livingston  was  ap 
pointed  by  Congress  as  a  commissary  in  or  for  the 
^northern  army.  Upon  his  arrival  in  New  York, 
Commissary  General  Trumbull  found  himself  re 
sponsible  for  furnishing  the  northern  army  as  well 
as  the  army  under  Washington's  command,  and 
sent  his  deputy,  Mr.  Elisha  Avery,  to  take  charge 
of  matters  in  the  northern  department  for  which 
Schuyler  was  furnishing  money  to  his  commissary, 
Livingston.  Schuyler  refused  to  recognize  Avery  in 
the  matter,  even  after  Washington  had  informed 
Schuyler  that  Congress  had  decided  that  the  sole 
right  of  furnishing  the  northern  army  should  rest 
with  the  Commissary  General.  Gates  is  said  to 
have  cajoled  Avery,  and  doubtless  espoused  his  side 


204  JONArHAN   TRUMBULL 

of  the  quarrel,  though  he  managed  to  conceal  his 
cloven  foot  in  the  matter  more  successfully  than 
in  some  of  his  later  intrigues.  At  all  events,  the 
correspondence  between  General  Gates  and  Com 
missary  General  Trumbull  grows  active  at  this 
time,  and  some  intercepted  letters  form  the  basis 
of  an  investigation  which  Schuyler  demands  of 
Congress.  They  form,  too,  the  only  product  of 
Commissary  Trumbull's  pen,  which  we  may  regard 
with  regret  in  his  sad,  short  and  arduous  career. 

The  conflict  of  authority  between  Commissary 
General  Trumbull  and  General  Schuyler  lasted  with 
apparent  bitterness  for  two  months,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  Deputy  Commissary  Avery  was  with 
drawn  from  the  northern  army  by  the  Commissary 
General,  who  reports  to  Congress  requesting  to  be 
relieved  from  further  connection  with  the  northern 
army,  as  General  Schuyler  had  not  only  refused  to 
furnish  money  to  Avery  at  a  time  when  he  was 
officially  authorized  to  receive  it,  but  had  forbidden 
him  to  purchase  provisions,  and  had  given  him 
orders  conflicting  with  those  of  the  Commissary 
General,  to  whom  alone  he  was  accountable.  Upon 
this,  Commissary  Livingston  resigns,  and  Congress 
sustains  the  action  of  the  Commissary  General. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  all  the  Trumbulls  had  an 
"intense  dislike  and  jealousy  of  Schuyler  and  the 
New  York  influence  generally."  1  The  official  quarrel 
between  one  of  the  Trumbulls  —  Joseph  —  which 
is  indicated  above,  appears  to  be  the  only  ground 

1  Year  book  Connecticut  Society  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  1895  — 
1896,  p.  185. 


SECTIONAL  JEALOUSIES  205 

for  such  a  statement.  Schuyler's  relations  with  two 
brothers  of  Joseph  Trumbull  appear  to  have  been 
of  the  most  amicable  kind,  so  much  so  that  he,  had 
been  warned  by  one  of  these  brothers  against  the 
false  reports  which  had  been  circulated  regarding 
him,  and  that  he  had  recommended  the  other 
brother  for  promotion.  So  far  as  Governor  Trum 
bull  is  concerned,  there  is  still  to  be  found  an  iota 
of  proof  of  his  "intense  dislike  and  jealousy  of 
Schuyler."  In  the  quarrel  just  referred  to,  it  is 
natural  that  he  might  side  with  his  son,  who  appears 
to  have  been  in  the  right,  and  unfortunately  carried 
his  enmity  too  far.  There  is  but  one  slight  indica 
tion,  in  a  letter  to  his  son-in-law,  William  Williams, 
that  Governor  Trumbull  had  a  poor  opinion  of 
Schuyler's  generalship.  In  this  letter  he  says: 
"It  is  justly  to  be  expected  that  General  Gates 
is  discontented  with  his  situation,  finding  himself 
limited  and  removed  from  the  command,  to  be  a 
wretched  spectator  of  the  ruin  of  the  army,  without 
the  power  of  attempting  to  save  them."  This  of 
course  was  long  after  the  trouble  between  his  son  and 
Schuyler  and  was  written  when  the  fall  of  Ticonderoga 
had  cast  a  gloom  over  all  New  England ;  and  when  loud 
complaints  were  made  of  St.  Glair's  movements  by 
people  ignorant  of  the  military  situation. 

It  seems  evident  that  Schuyler  had  the  utmost 
regard  for  Governor  Trumbull,  writing  as  he  did, 
on  the  fifteenth  of  September:  "Your  attentions, 
sir,  to  supply  the  army  merits  the  warmest  acknowl 
edgments  of  every  friend  of  his  country.  You  have 
mine  most  unfeignedly." 


206  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

And  through  the  whole  course  of  official  corre 
spondence  in  this  campaign,  mutual  sentiments  of 
personal  regard  and  esteem  are  exchanged  in  a  way 
which  would  leave  either  or  both  of  these  patriots 
open  to  the  charge  of  hypocrisy  if  they  had  not  a 
high  opinion  of  each  other.  Certain  it  is  that  they 
worked  in  the  utmost  harmony  for  the  common 
cause,  and  that  they  both  strove  with  unswerving 
fidelity  to  do  everything  in  their  power  to  remove 
the  disastrous  effects  of  sectional  jealousy  from 
which  Schuyler  so  unjustly  suffered. 

Their  official  relations  continued  to  be  active 
through  the  entire  period  of  Schuyler's  command, 
involving  conflicts  of  opinion  regarding  the  delicate 
subject  of  Connecticut's  embargo  and  its  effect  on 
New  York.  This  matter  of  conflicting  interests 
between  two  newly  born  States  was  discussed  most 
temperately  and  courteously  by  Schuyler  and  Trum- 
bull,  and  everything  in  the  power  of  the  latter  that 
could  be  done  to  reconcile  differences  of  opinion  was 
done.  There  is  hardly  to  be  found  a  more  striking 
instance  of  Trumbull's  broad  spirit  of  harmony  in 
the  common  cause  than  in  his  relations  with  Schuyler. 
If  he  cherished  that  "intense  dislike  and  jealousy" 
of  which  he  had  been  suspected,  his  course  is  all 
the  more  to  his  credit  for  preventing  his  personal 
feelings  from  injuring  the  common  cause.  And  if, 
as  seems  to  be  the  case,  he  appreciated  the  ad 
mirable  character  of  Schuyler  at  its  true  worth, 
he  must  be  credited  with  a  soundness  and  keen 
ness  of  judgment  which  few,  if  any,  New  England 
men  exhibited  in  the  case  at  the  time. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

"THE    TIMES    THAT   TRIED   MEN'S    SOULS"  —  DIFFI 
CULTIES  IN  FILLING  CONNECTICUT'S  QUOTA  —  TRYON'S 

RAID   ON   DANBURY TRUMBULL  AND   THE  CONWAY 

CABAL THE  TITLE   "HIS   EXCELLENCY"  DISTASTE 
FUL  TO  THE  GOVERNOR 

THE  gloom  cast  upon  the  nation  by  the 
success  of  the  British  in  occupying  New 
York,  and  by  the  retreat  of  Washington 
through  New  Jersey  with  his  dwindling  army, 
was  in  a  measure  relieved  by  his  wonderful  gen 
eralship  in  the  battles  of  Trenton  and  Princeton. 
Had  these  master  strokes  been  fully  appreciated 
in  New  England,  a  far  more  hopeful  view  of  the 
situation  would  have  prevailed  in  that  important 
section,  and  the  recruits  so  sorely  needed  doubtless 
would  have  poured  in  to  relieve  the  sad  lack  of  men 
which  prevented  Washington  from  following  up  his 
advantages.  In  view  of  subsequent  revelations, 
it  is  almost  ludicrous  to  read  even  Governor  Trum- 
bulPs  condolences  to  Washington  on  the  capture 
of  the  traitor,  General  Charles  Lee.  Such  condo 
lences  reflect  the  general  view  of  this  affair  at  the 
time,  and  show  that  it  was  regarded  as  a  calamity 
which  did  much  to  offset  the  cheering  news  of 
Trenton  and  Princeton. 

But    four    days    before    the    battle    of   Trenton, 
Washington  had  written  an  urgent  letter  to  Trum- 

207 


208  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

bull,  informing  him  that  Lee's  men,  who  should 
•have  been  on  the  scene  weeks  before,  had  not  re- 
enlisted,  as  Washington  had  "been  taught  to  be 
lieve",  and  that  the  militia  of  New  Jersey  afforded 
no  aid.  "It  is  easier,"  he  writes,  "to  conceive 
than  describe  the  situation  I  am  in, --left,  or  shall 
be  in  a  very  few  days,  with  only  a  few  Southern 
regiments  (reduced  almost  to  nothing)  to  oppose 
Howe's  main  army,  already  posted  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  throw  in  his  whole  force  upon  us  so  soon  as  the 
frost  affords  him  a  passage  over  the  Delaware,  and 
our  numbers  such  as  to  give  no  effectual  opposition." 
Under  these  circumstances,  he  asks  that  two  regi 
ments  of  Connecticut  militia  which  had  been  ordered 
home  should  be  sent  back  at  once. 

In  the  northern  army,  too,  affairs  were  in  a  condi 
tion  far  from  satisfactory.  Men  and  cannon  were 
much  needed,  and  the  old  jealousy  of  New  England 
men,  with  its  disastrous  results,  continued  as  before 
to  render  Schuyler's  position  difficult  in  the  extreme. 
We  find  Gates  at  this  time  absenting  himself  from 
the  battle  of  Trenton  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
on  his  intrigues  in  Congress  whereby  he  finally 
succeeded  in  supplanting  Schuyler,  and  reaping 
credit  for  military  successes  which  were  due  entire!} 
to  others. 

The  drain  of  the  previous  two  years  on  the  Con 
necticut  treasury  had  now  grown  to  be  a  serious 
matter,  so  much  so  that  one  great  difficulty  ir 
enlisting  men  to  fill  the  continental  quota  lay  in  lad 
of  funds  to  pay  bounties.  Another  serious  difficulty 
too  was  the  lack  of  arms  and  ammunition.  Addec 


DIFFICULT  TIMES  209 

to  all  these  obstacles  was  an  undefined  but  un 
mistakable  feeling  of  discouragement  and  weariness 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  which  could  not  be  ignored 
even  in  Connecticut.  These  were,  as  Tom  Paine 
well  said,  "the  times  that  tried  men's  souls."  But 
the  soul  of  Connecticut's  Governor  was  equal  to 
the  occasion.  With  every  fresh  difficulty  he  re 
doubled  his  exertions,  in  the  midst  of  increasing 
cares,  burdens  and  anxieties.  The  treatment  of 
prisoners  by  the  British  becomes  a  source  of  serious 
concern  to  him,  and  a  subject  of  much  correspon 
dence  between  himself  and  Washington.  The  main 
difficulty  in  Connecticut,  as  in  all  the  other  States, 
was  the  impossibility  of  filling  the  quotas  under  the 
new  establishment  of  the  Continental  Army.  Three 
years  or  the  war  was  a  term  of  enlistment  difficult 
to  accomplish  among  a  people  whose  sole  means  of 
livelihood  was  in  the  home  life  on  the  farm. 

By  March  6,  1777,  the  situation  had  become  so 
serious  that  Washington  writes  for  two  regiments 
to  be  sent  at  once  to  Peekskill  to  reinforce  the  army 
while  waiting  for  the  various  States  to  fill  their 
quotas.  These  two  regiments  were  at  once  drafted 
from  ten  of  the  regiments  of  militia;  but  a  month 
later  Washington  writes  that  only  eight  hundred 
of  the  men  had  reached  Peekskill.  At  the  time 
when  he  called  for  them  he  wrote  urging  that  men 
be  sent  forward  for  the  regular  army  as  fast  as 
enlisted,  as  the  army  then  consisted  of  only  about 
five  hundred  Virginians  and  parts  of  two  or  three 
regiments  -- " all  very  weak."  He  adds:  "I  almost 
tax  myself  with  imprudence  in  committing  the 


210  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

secret  to  paper;  not  that  I  distrust  you,  of  whose 
inviolable  attachment  I  have  had  so  many  proofs, 
but  for  fear  this  letter  should  by  any  accident  fall 
into  other  hands,  than  those  for  which  it  is  intended." 

Later,  while  still  urging  for  men  to  complete 
Connecticut's  quota,  and  prevent  the  enemy  from 
going  up  the  Hudson,  he  writes: 

"I  mark  with  peculiar  satisfaction  and  thanks  your 
constant  and  unwearied  assiduity  in  giving  the 
service  every  aid  in  your  power." 

Washington  and  Trumbull  were-  in  full  accord  as 
to  the  need  of  long  enlistments,  and  everything  that 
could  be  done  at  this  time  was  done  towards  filling 
Connecticut's  quota. 

About  this  time  occurred  the  first  invasion  of 
Connecticut  soil  by  the  British  under  Tryon.  Land 
ing  on  April  25,  1777,  his  forces  proceeded  to  Dan- 
bury  where,  on  the  following  night,  they  destroyed 
large  quantities  of  military  stores  which  had  been 
deposited  in  that  town  by  order  of  the  General 
Assembly.  The  invaders,  to  the  number  of  two 
thousand  or  more,  met  with  a  much  warmer  re 
ception  than  they  expected  on  their  return  march 
to  their  ships,  and  barely  escaped  capture,  after  a 
severe  fight  at  Ridgefield  and  harassing  attacks  by 
the  fast  gathering  militia  under  Wooster,  Arnold 
and  Silliman,  in  which  Wooster  lost  his  life. 

Tryon's  invasion  was  reported  by  Trumbull  to 
Washington  on  the  fourth  of  May,  and  a  request 
was  made  for  two  battalions  of  Continentals  tc 
be  stationed  in  Connecticut,  as  the  Continental 
Congress  had  provided,  or  allowed.  Washington 


RAID  ON  DANBURT  211 

found  himself  obliged  to  reply  that  he  could  not 
scatter  his  forces  in  such  a  way,  as  the  entire  New 
England  coast  had  the  same  right  to  protection, 
which  it  was  impossible  to  grant.  He  explains  the 
situation  fully  to  Trumbull,  who  readily  acquiesces, 
though  the  people  were  clamorous  for  such  pro 
tection,  and  much  interrupted  in  their  important 
work  of  farming,  so  necessary  to  furnish  supplies 
for  their  homes  and  for  the  army. 

Within  a  month  from  the  time  of  Tryon's  Dan- 
bury  ratd,  Colonel  Return  Jonathan  Meigs  made 
his  famous  whaleboat  raid  on  Sag  Harbor,  then  a 
British  depository  of  military  stores,  and  accom 
plished  in  twenty-five  hours,  with  one  hundred  and 
sixty  men  and  without  the  loss  of  a  man,  very 
nearly  the  same  result  in  the  destruction  of  military 
stores  which  Tryon  with  two  thousand  men  took 
three  days  to  accomplish  at  Danbury,  and  with  a 
heavy  loss  and  narrow  escape. 

Washington's  belief  that  in  view  of  these  results 
the  enemy  would  be  more  cautious  in  future  was 
fully  confirmed,  and  for  more  than  two  years  Con 
necticut  soil  was  free  from  British  invasion. 

Discouraging  news  soon  followed  from  the  northern 
army.  The  evacuation  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  brought 
about  a  distrust  of  the  commanding  officers  which 
made  enlistments  more  difficult  than  ever  in  Con 
necticut,  thus  adding  to  the  difficulties  which  the 
Governor  was  constantly  obliged  to  face  and  fight. 
Not  one  whit  does  the  gloom  which  the  news  from 
the  north  cast  over  the  country  abate  the  Gov 
ernor's  zeal  or  his  faith.  "The  Lord  reigns!"  he 


212  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

writes  Washington -- "Let  us  rejoice  with  thank 
fulness  beforehand  for  the  mercies  we  have  received, 
and  with  hope  of  those  we  stand  in  need  of." 

And  so,  through  the  dark  months  which  followed, 
he  continues  to  urge  enlistments  and  to  take  every 
means  to  help  the  common  cause,  until  at  last  affairs 
in  the  north  take  on  a  brighter  look,  through  the 
battles  of  Oriskany  and  Bennington;  and  the  tide 
of  the  campaign  in  this  department  turns,  until 
two  months  later  it  culminates  in  the  surrender  of 
Burgoyne.  The  air  of  the  northern  department  is 
now  full  of  victory,  the  credit  of  which  does  not 
go  where  it  is  deserved.  Gates,  by  means  of  in 
triguing,  had  superseded  Schuyler,  and  reaped  the 
laurels  which  he  never  earned. 

In  the  more  southern  campaign  affairs  wore  a 
different  aspect.  Washington,  with  an  army  whose 
weakness  he  dares  not  disclose,  is  here  facing  an 
enemy  far  superior  in  numbers  and  discipline,  per 
plexed  by  their  vacillating  movements,  so  contrary 
to  sound  military  principles.  The  battles  of  Brandy- 
wine  and  Germantown  follow,  and  though  bravely 
contested  under  the  utmost  disadvantages,  do  not 
result  as  everyone  in  New  England  is  now  expecting 
battles  to  result,  with  the  defeat  of  Burgoyne  already 
almost  assured.  The  occupation  of  Philadelphia  by 
the  enemy  is  also  regarded  as  a  dire  disaster  by  the 
large  majority  of  people,  who  could  not  see  the 
sense  as  well  as  the  humor  of  Benjamin  Franklin's 
remark,  when  on  being  told  that  the  British  had 
taken  Philadelphia,  he  drily  responded  that  Phila 
delphia  had  taken  the  British. 


THE  CON  WAY  CABAL  213 

The  result  of  the  good  fortune  of  one  general  and 
the  ill  fortune  of  his  commander  made  the  times 
ripe  for  the  miserable  intrigue  which  bears  the  ilame 
of  the  Conway  cabal.  It  would  be  unnecessary  to 
mention  this  affair,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
statements  have  appeared  in  print  which  connect 
Governor  Trumbull  with  the  plots  to  remove  Wash 
ington  from  the  command  of  the  army  at  this 
time.1  The  most  careful  search  possible  for  the 
authority  on  which  such  statements  rest  has  been 
made,  without  finding  a  trace  of  any  word  of  Gov 
ernor  TrumbuH's,  either  in  print  or  in  manuscript, 
which  would  tend  to  such  a  conclusion. 

It  is  believed  by  some  historians  that  the  move 
ment  known  as  the  Conway  cabal  had  a  wider 
scope  than  it  has  been  generally  supposed  to  have 
had.  Some  of  the  best  and  greatest  statesmen  of 
the  time,  actuated  by  true  patriotism  and  love  of 
country,  thought  of  the  possibility  of  a  successor 
for  Washington  at  the  time  of  his  appointment 
to  the  command  of  the  army,  in  case  of  his  removal 
by  death  or  capture,  or  his  inability  by  reason  of 
sickness  or  any  of  the  chances  of  war.  How  far 
this  possibility  was  provided  for  in  the  councils 
of  such  statesmen,  we  have  yet  to  learn.  But  it 
seems  obvious  to  historians  who  are  well  qualified 
to  judge  that  the  intriguers  of  the  Conway  cabal 
used  this  perfectly  legitimate  view  of  certain  states 
men  as  the  key  for  their  miserable  plot  when  they 

JP.  L.  Ford.  Atlantic  Monthly,  75:  633;  "The  True  George  Washington", 
p.  256.  L.  C.  Hatch.  "The  Administration  of  the  American  Revolutionary 
Army",  p.  25. 


2i4  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

believed  the  time  to  be  ripe  for  it.  How  far  Trum- 
bull's  counsels  were  sought  and  given  even  in  the 
legitimate  side  of  this  movement  it  is  impossible 
to  learn.  That  he  was  in  any  way  connected  with 
the  intriguing  side  of  it  seems  too  absurd  to  believe. 
Such  an  inference  might,  however,  be  drawn  from 
some  statements  that  have  been  made,  even  though 
it  was  not  intended,  in  making  them,  that  this  view 
should  be  taken. 

At  the  time  of  the  plot  itself  no  one  had  better 
opportunities  for  taking  an  impartial  view  of  the 
case  than  Governor  Trumbull.  His  correspondence 
with  Washington  at  the  time  was  constant,  and  of 
a  nature  to  show  him  all  the  difficulties  which  the 
Commander  in  Chief  had  to  encounter.  At  the 
same  time,  with  Washington  at  headquarters  we 
find  Trumbuirs  son-in-law,  General  Jedediah  Hunt- 
ington,  from  whose  letter  to  Trumbull  we  will 
quote  a  few  lines : 

November  10,  1777.  "I  do  most  heartily  pity 
General  Washington.  It  is  impossible  for  him  to 
operate  with  vigor;  he  bears  his  disappointments 
with  the  greatest  equanimity,  and  is  anxious  to  do 
the  best  he  can  in  the  circumstances.  I  could  give 
you  information  that  would  astonish  you." 

November  18.  "Our  army  wastes  fast;  we  can 
raise  no  recruits  for  money  because  it  ceases  to  be 
of  any  consideration." 

December  14.  "Congress,  I  dare  say,  think  us 
paltroons  for  not  engaging  Mr.  Howe  the  other  day 
at  White  Marsh.  The  Committee  of  Congress  who 
were  there,  I  am  told,  were  pleased  to  say  as  much. 


THE  CON  WAT  CABAL  215 

An  attack  would  undoubtedly  have  been  the  ruin 
of  this  army.  General  Washington  is  under  strong 
necessity  of  hazarding  an  action  for  the  salge  of 
gratifying  the  opinions  of  those  who  ought  not,  and 
cannot  indeed,  judge  him,  that  is,  they  cannot 
know  the  circumstances,  or  do  not  always  under 
stand  the  principles  upon  which  the  fate  of  battles 
depends.  The  country  might  in  some  measure  be 
satisfied  for  our  inactivity,  if  it  would  do  to  let 
them  into  the  knowledge  of  our  numbers.  I  wish 
the  General  was  as  strong  in  the  field  as  he  is  in  the 
newspapers.  A  little  knowledge  of  military  history 
will  inform  any  one  that  an  army  in  one  campaign 
scarcely  ever  fought  two  battles  so  general  as  those 
of  Brandywine  and  Germantown.  They  were  not 
decisive,  it  is  true,  and  for  good  reason  beside  those 
which  have  been  given  to  the  publick.  Gen1  Wash 
ington  had  not  more  than  about  10,000  at  Brandy- 
wine,  (the  militia  I  don't  count)  nor  has  he  more 
than  that  number  of  effectives  after  the  junction 
of  the  Northern  reinforcements  (I  hardly  dare  speak 
the  truth).  We  have  very  authentick  accounts  of 
Howe's  exceeding  him  in  numbers,  in  discipline  we 
know  he  does.  .  .  .  Never  I  believe  did  an  army 
want  to  fight  more  than  ours  on  our  own  or  equal 
ground,  and  the  inferior  officers  &  soldiers  would 
cheerfully  have  gone  to  their  ground  had  they 
been  ordered,  confiding  in  the  wisdom  of  their 
superiours." 

January  9,  1778.  "I  hope  the  situation  of  our 
military  affairs  will  not  be  seen  through  any  false 
mirrour.  They  (N.  England)  must  not  depend  too 


216  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

much  upon  their  sister  States ;  nor  confine  themselves 
to  the  lines  of  proportion  or  equality." 

So  much  for  the  information  received  by  Gover 
nor  Trumbull  from  his  son-in-law,  General  Hunting- 
ton.  It  is  quoted  merely  as  a  specimen  of  this  corre 
spondence,  and  must  have  been  allowed  by  such  a 
man  as  Trumbull  to  carry  the  weight  of  information 
from  an  original  and  authoritative  source. 

On  the  other  hand  the  Governor's  son  Jonathan 
was,  during  all  this  time,  in  the  northern  army, 
petted  by  Gates,  who  appreciated  the  importance 
of  the  assistance  of  Connecticut.  The  letters  of  the 
younger  Jonathan  Trumbull  to  his  father  evidently 
bear  the  flavor  of  his  surroundings  in  the  military 
family  of  Gates,  and  reflect  the  opinions  which  were 
doubtless  quite  freely  expressed  in  this  family.  A 
few  specimens  of  these  letters  must  suffice : 

Albany,  December  i,  1777.  "Is  it  not  astonish 
ing  that  two  months  have  now  nearly  passed  at 
the  southward  since  anything  had  been  done? 
What  can  be  the  cause  of  their  lingering  inac 
tivity?  they  have  before  this  had  large  reinforce 
ments  from  this  army.  If  nothing  is  done  with  the 
whole  united  Continental  force,  will  there  not  be 
reason  for  complaint?  I  fear  all  is  not  right.  I 
wish  they  had  the  same  harmony  &  unanimity  as 
has  prevailed  in  this  quarter.  .  .  . 

"We  are  told  that  the  Adams's  have  followed  Mr. 
H.  home.  Is  the  confederation  compleated?  A 
rope  of  sand  cannot  be  strong." 

Albany,  December  4,  1777.  "Mr.  Pierce  re 
turned  from  Congress  two  days  since,  with  various 


THE  CONWAY  CABAL  217 

letters,  the  purport  of  which  you  will  know  when 
I  can  reach  Lebanon.  His  news  is  rather  very  dis 
agreeable,  informg  that  Gen1  Varnum  had  evacuated 
Red  Bank  Fort,  without  waitg  the  attack  of  Lord 
Cornwallis,  who  was  on  his  march  for  that  purpose, 
and  while  Gen1  Green  was  on  his  way,  with  his 
division,  to  sustain  the  Fort.  Reasons  —  none 
assigned." 

Going  on  to  give  particulars  of  other  reports  of 
military  movements,  he  adds: 

"Other  reports  prevail,  which  I  shall  not  men 
tion.  I  fear  things  are  bad  eno'  below,  that  the 
enemy  will  probably  have  safe  &  good  winter  quarters 
in  the  city,  &  leave  our  army  to  shurk  for  themselves 
where  they  can  find  covering." 

These  extracts  from  letters  from  General  Jedediah 
Huntington  on  one  hand  and  Jonathan  Trumbull, 
Junior,  on  the  other,  give  as  full  an  idea  as  possible 
of  the  information  which  these  two  correspondents 
of  the  Governor's  thought  it  prudent  to  commit  to 
paper. 

Between  these  two  correspondents  stands  William 
Williams,  then  in  Congress,  apparently  more  con 
cerned  with  interpreting  any  reverses  of  our  army 
as  a  display  of  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty  against  a 
sinful  people  than  in  criticizing  generalship;  as 
after  an  elaborate  description  of  the  battle  of  Chad's 
Ford,  he  adds,  writing  from  Congress : 

"It  is  an  awful  frown  of  Divine  Providence,  but 
we  are  not  at  all  humbled  under  it;  a  sad  sign  that 
more  dreadful  evils  await  us." 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  any  connection  of  Trum- 


2i8  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

bull  with  the  councils  which  considered  a  substitute 
for  Washington  in  case  of  need,  or  with  the  plots 
which  were  formed  for  removing  him  from  office 
would  be  difficult  to  discover  from  documentary 
evidence  after  this  lapse  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  years.  The  most  that  can  be  said  in  the  way 
of  indicating  his  connection  with  the  matter  is  that 
he  had  at  the  time  a  high  opinion  of  Gates,  as  most 
New  England  men  had,  and  that  Gates  did  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  foster  this  opinion.  But  this 
is  far  from  proving  anything,  and  yet  it  is  as  far 
as  we  can  go.  And  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that 
he  had,  after  his  year  and  more  of  active  corre 
spondence  with  Washington,  the  highest  possible 
opinion  of  that  great  man.  Some  indications  of 
Trumbull's  regard  for  Washington  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  him  on  March  21,  1777: 

"I  have  been  greatly  alarmed  with  an  account  of 
your  ill  state  of  health,  but  had  the  pleasure  yes 
terday  to  hear  you  was  mending.  May  God  pre 
serve  your  life  and  restore  your  health,  for  the  sake 
of  your  country  as  well  as  your  friends  and  your 
own,  is  the  sincere  wish  of 

"Sir,  with  highest  esteem  and  regard, 

"Your  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"Jonth    Trumbull." 

Again,  on  January  14,  1778,  he  writes  to  Washing 
ton,  speaking  of  his  wish  to  fill  Connecticut's  quota, 
and  adding: 

"Our  inveterate  foes  will  strain  every  nerve  in 
the  manner  you  mention,  which  should  excite  us 


THE  CONWAT  CABAL  219 

to  be  beforehand  with  them  to  strike  a  home  blow 
before  they  can  be  reinforced.  It  is  my  most  ardent 
desire  that  every  necessary  preparation  be  made. 
Such  a  stroke  will  best  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the 
army.  For  them  I  have  very  tender  feelings.  At 
the  same  time,  sir,  I  feel  most  cordially  for  the 
weight  and  burdens  that  lie  on  your  Excellency." 

It  seems  useless  to  pursue  this  subject  further. 
The  whole  situation  seems  adverse  to  any  view  which 
would  connect  Trumbull  with  the  plot  of  Conway 
and  Gates  to  supersede  Washington.  Trumbull's 
entire  record  shows  that  he  busied  himself  with 
other  and  more  practical  affairs.  Though  he  con 
stantly  watched  the  progress  of  military  movements, 
he  is  rarely,  if  ever,  to  be  found  outside  the  limits 
of  his  stanch  little  State,  where  he  constantly  toiled 
and  hoped  and  prayed  for  the  success  of  the  righteous 
cause  to  which  he  was  committed,  heart  and  soul. 
It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  he  was  at  this 
time  a  man  of  sixty-seven,  with  a  large  experience 
in  judicial  matters  and  a  calm,  impartial  judgment  of 
men  and  affairs.  If  any  of  the  family  were  connected 
with  the  Conway  cabal,  it  might  have  been  his  son 
Jonathan,  who,  with  less  mature  judgment,  was 
under  the  immediate  influence  of  Gates  and  his 
military  family,  the  same  family  which  received 
Lafayette's  toast  to  the  Commander  in  Chief  so 
coldly  and  awkwardly  on  a  certain  festive  occasion. 
But  we  lack  proof  that  young  Trumbull  yielded 
to  these  influences.  It  should  be  remembered,  too, 
that  his  position  as  Paymaster  of  the  northern 
department  was,  at  the  time,  of  a  character  to  give 


220  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

him  but  little,  if  any,  influence  in  Congress,  the 
only  body  whose  acts  were  worth  anything  to  the 
plotters. 

At  the  May  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut  in  1777,  the  title  "His  Excellency" 
was  adopted  by  vote,  as  "the  stile,  title  or  appella 
tion  of  the  Governor  or  Commander  in  Chief/' 

This  was  distasteful  to  the  Governor;  and  as  it 
appears  to  be  the  only  trace  we  can  find  of  his  own 
view  of  his  personal  distinction,  it  is  important, 
in  estimating  his  character,  that  we  should  study 
his  own  words  on  the  subject,  addressed  to  the 
General  Assembly.  A  full  year  had  elapsed  since 
the  enactment  of  that  body  had  burdened  him  with 
this  title,  and  it  appears  that  it  continued  to  dis 
turb  him  to  such  an  extent  that  he  is  moved  to 
address  them  in  the  following  words : 

"An  act  of  this  Assembly  made  and  passed  this 
time  twelve  months  ordered  the  stile  of  His  Ex 
cellency  to  be  given  the  Governor  of  this  State. 
This  savouring  too  much  of  High  Titles,  and  not 
beneficial,  may  it  not  honorably  be  repealed?  It 
passed  without  previous  knowledge,  expectation  or 
desire.  Asking  pardon  from  you  and  from  my 
successors,  I  do  sincerely  request  its  repeal.  It 
is  Honor  and  Happiness  enough  to  meet  the  Ap 
probation  of  Heaven,  of  my  conscience,  and  of  my 
Brethren." 

Mindful,  perhaps,  of  the  mischief  made  in  the 
army  particularly  by  jealousies  caused  by  the  ap 
pointments  of  Congress,  and  by  some  appointments 
in  the  civil  service,  he  adds: 


DISLIKE  OF  TITLES  221 

"High  sounding  Titles  intoxicate  the  mind,  in- 
generate  envy,  breed  disorders  in  a  commonwealth, 
and  ought  therefore  to  be  avoided.  The  true  gran 
deur  and  solid  glory  do  not  consist  in  high  Titles, 
splendour,  pomp,  and  magnificence,  nor  in  reverence 
and  exterior  honor  paid  to  their  Governors  and 
Rulers,  but  in  the  real  and  solid  advantages  derived 
therefrom." 

There  were  sticklers  for  rank,  for  position  and 
empty  honors,  in  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  from 
John  Hancock  down,  but  Governor  Trumbull  was 
not  one  of  them. 


CHAPTER  XX 

TRUMBULL'S  ILLNESS  AND  MESSAGE  TO  THE  GENERAL 
ASSEMBLY TAXATION  --  REGULATING  ACTS  -  -  CON 
FEDERATION  --  RELIEF  FOR  VALLEY  FORGE CORRE 
SPONDENCE  WITH  TRYON  THE  ERRAND  OF  THE 

"SPY"  --DEATH  OF  JOSEPH  TRUMBULL 

UP  to  the  time  of  the  adjourned  session  of 
the  General  Assembly  in  February,  1778, 
Governor  Trumbull  appears  to  have  been 
present  at  every  session  during  the  nine  years 
of  his  incumbency.  His  health  had  been  remark 
able  for  a  man  of  his  years  and  burdens;  but 
in  February  we  find  him  sending  the  following  mes 
sage  to  the  General  Assembly: 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Council,  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
House  of  Representatives : 

"It  having  pleased  Providence  to  detain  me  by 
indisposition  from  a  personal  attendance  with  you, 
I  am  to  take  this  method  of  addressing  you  on  the 
present  important  occasion.  The  papers  relative 
to  the  business  which  will  come  under  your  atten 
tion  accompany  this,  —  and  any  letters  under  ad 
dress  to  me,  which  may  be  received  in  my  absence, 
His  Honor  the  Deputy  Governor  will  open  and 
communicate. 

"The  Articles  of  Confederation  of  the  United 
States  call  first  for  your  attention,  and  as  this 


222 


MESSAGE   TO  THE  ASSEMBLT       223 

business  was  well  nigh  completed  during  your  late 
sessions,  I  hope  it  will  be  speedily  finished. 

"The  necessity  of  immediate  large  Taxation  was 
next  considered,  and  I  trust  will  now  occupy  your 
serious  attention.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  more 
fully  convinced  that  this  is  the  only  effectual  and 
safe  method  of  extricating  ourselves  from  our 
present  difficulties  and  of  giving  value  to  our  cur 
rency,  and  that  this  time  is  the  most  proper  for 
adopting  this  remedy,  is  almost  self-evident.  Our 
debts  must  be  paid,  and  all  men  will  allow  that  it  is 
more  easy  to  pay  a  nominal  sum,  when  money  is 
plenty  and  cheaply  earned,  than  when  it  is  the 
scarcest,  and  consequently  the  dearest  article. 

"The  doings  of  the  convention  at  New  Haven, 
in  the  regulation  of  prices,  &c.,  will  likewise  come 
before  you,  and  will  demand  your  very  serious  con 
sideration.  As  it  is  a  matter  of  particular  concern 
to  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  will  it  not  be  ad 
visable  to  defer  your  determination  therein,  until 
it  can  be  referr'd  to  and  considered  by  them  in 
their  town  meetings?  At  least,  it  is  not,  in  my 
opinion,  safe  to  attempt  the  regulation  of  those 
articles,  which  are  immediately  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  army.  We  may,  it  is  true,  avail 
ourselves  of  whatever  is  at  present  on  hand  -  -  but 
meantime,  if  we  affix  a  low  price  to  provisions  and 
articles  of  importation,  we  shall  find  that  the  farmer 
will  cease  to  till  the  ground  for  more  than  is  necessary 
for  his  own  subsistence  —  and  the  merchant  to 
risque  his  fortune  on  a  small  and  precarious  prospect 
of  gain.  These  things  I  trust  will  be  carefully 


224  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

attended  to,  and  those  measures  adopted  which  will 
best  promote  the  public  good." 

In  accordance  with  these  recommendations,  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  were  adopted  at  this 
session,  and  a  tax  of  two  shillings  on  the  pound  was 
laid,  one  half  to  be  paid  by  the  following  June  and 
the  other  half  by  the  following  November.  This 
tax  was  to  meet  the  payment  of  $600,000  appor 
tioned  to  Connecticut  by  Congress  in  a  call  on  the 
thirteen  States  for  $5,000,000. 

In  the  matter  of  the  regulation  of  prices,  the 
General  Assembly  and  the  Governor  could  not 
agree.  A  measure  was  quite  promptly  passed  at 
this  session  in  accordance  with  the  recommendation 
of  Congress  "for  the  regulation  of  prices  of  labour, 
produce,  manufactures  and  commodities  within  this 
state",  and  was  followed  by  an  enactment  that 
no  person  could  "commence  or  maintain  any  suit 
either  in  law  or  equity  within  this  state"  until  he 
should  take  solemn  oath  that  he  had  not  violated 
any  provision  of  the  act  regulating  prices. 

From  Trumbull's  later  correspondence  with  Wash 
ington,  we  learn  that  he  was  utterly  opposed  to  the 
legislation,  and  that  it  caused  him  much  concern. 
That  he  was  right  in  his  belief  we  may  see  from  the 
fact  that  in  the  following  May  the  regulating  act 
was  suspended,  and  in  the  following  October  re 
pealed,  no  doubt  in  the  light  of  rather  bitter  expe 
rience  which  the  Governor  alone  appears  to  have 
foreseen. 

It  was  during  the  Governor's  illness  that  a  letter 
from  Washington  under  date  of  February  sixth  came 


AN  ALARMING  SITUATION  225 

to  Hartford  and  was,  no  doubt,  opened  by  Deputy 
Governor  Griswold,  and  by  him  communicated 
to  the  General  Assembly,  in  accordance  with  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull's  general  instructions  at  the  open 
ing  of  the  session.  This  letter  informs  the  Governor 
that  the  army  at  Valley  Forge  must  disband,  "un 
less  more  constant,  regular  and  larger  supplies  of 
the  meat  kind  are  furnished  than  have  been  for 
some  time  past."  Washington  adds: 

"I  must  therefore,  sir,  entreat  you  in  the  most 
earnest  terms,  and  by  that  zeal  which  has  so  em 
inently  distinguished  your  character  in  the  present 
arduous  struggle,  to  give  every  countenance  to  the 
person  or  persons  employed  in  the  purchasing  line 
in  your  State,  and  to  urge  them  to  the  most  vig- 
ourous  efforts  to  forward  supplies  of  cattle  from 
time  to  time;  and  thereby  prevent  such  a  melan 
choly  and  alarming  catastrophe.  As  I  observed 
before,  this  subject  is  rather  out  of  your  province, 
yet  I  know  your  wishes  to  promote  the  service 
in  every  possible  degree  will  render  an  apology 
unnecessary.  .  .  ." 

This  alarming  situation  appears  to  have  been 
provided  for  by  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Safety 
in  the  previous  month  of  January  by  the  appoint 
ment  of  Colonel  Henry  Champion,  "a  gentleman 
of  great  judgment,  capacity  and  experience  in  the 
business  of  procuring  and  purchasing  fat  cattle, 
especially  beyond  any  other  person  in  this  State, 
and  of  most  unexceptionable  honor  and  integrity,"  l 
as  purchaser  of  cattle,  to  be  driven  to  such  places 

1  Public  Records  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,     i:  511,  512. 


226  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

"as  may  be  directed  by  the  commissary  general  of 
issues  or  other  proper  authority." 

Colonel  Champion's  objections  to  serving  under 
the  rules  of  the  then  disorganized  Commissary 
Department  were  overcome,  and  he  entered  at  once 
into  this  important  service,  with  the  sum  of  $200,000 
placed  in  his  hands  and  in  the  hands  of  Peter  Colt, 
Deputy  Commissary  General  of  purchases.  A  later 
vote  of  the  Council  of  Safety  provides  an  additional 
sum  of  $200,000  for  the  same  purpose. 

The  first  drove  of  cattle,  to  the  number  of  three 
hundred,  was  driven  by  Colonel  Champion  and  his 
son  Epaphroditus  to  the  starving  army  at  Valley 
Forge,  where  in  five  days,  according  to  the  testi 
mony  of  the  younger  Champion,  they  were  devoured 
so  eagerly  that  "you  might  have  made  a  knife  out 
of  every  bone."  Colonel  Champion  and  Commissary 
Jeremiah  Wadsworth  continued  their  efforts  by  re 
quest  and  direction  of  Governor  Trumbull  and  his 
Council  of  Safety;  and  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  the  distressing  condition  of  the  army  was  more 
effectively  relieved  by  Connecticut  at  this  time 
than  by  any  other  one  State.  As  late  as  the  fifth  of 
May  Governor  Trumbull  writes  to  Washington : 

"The  activities  and  abilities  of  Mr.  Wadsworth 
and  Champion  will  doubtless  be  exerted  to  the 
utmost,  and  I  hope  will  not  fail  of  success." 

Wadsworth  was  at  this  time  Commissary  General 
of  the  Continental  Army.  The  utterly  absurd 
course  of  Congress  in  reorganizing,  or,  more  prop 
erly,  disorganizing  the  Commissary  Department 
had,  more  than  any  other  cause,  led  to  the  situation 


GOVERNOR   rRTON  227 

at  Valley  Forge,  as  it  had  previously  led  to  the 
resignation  of  Commissary  General  Joseph  Trum- 
bull,  who  very  properly  declined  to  serve  in  ^  posi 
tion  where  the  control  of  the  department  was  taken 
from  him  and  the  responsibilities  only  left.  Having 
succeeded  to  an  alarming  extent  in  starving  the 
army  as  the  result  of  criminally  foolish  legislation, 
Congress,  in  April  of  this  year,  had  practically 
reestablished  the  former  organization  of  the  Com 
missary  Department,  and  had  persuaded  Jeremiah 
Wadsworth  to  take  charge  of  it. 

Joseph  Trumbull  was  now  at  his  home  in  Lebanon, 
suffering  from  a  fatal  illness  brought  on  by  the 
cares,  anxieties  and  fatigues  of  his  office.  In  this 
same  month  of  April  an  interesting  correspondence 
began  between  Governor  William  Tryon  and  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull.  Tryon  had  at  this  time  received 
from  Lord  George  Germaine  the  draft  of  two  bills 
which  had  been  read  in  Parliament  on  the  nine 
teenth  of  the  previous  February,  with  "his  Maj 
esty's  command  that  they  be  printed  and  dispersed" 
throughout  the  American  colonies.  One  of  these 
bills  was  for  the  abolition  of  internal  taxation  in 
the  American  colonies  by  the  government  of  Great 
Britain,  and  the  other  "to  enable  his  Majesty 
to  appoint  Commissioners  with  sufficient  Powers 
to  treat,  consult  and  agree  upon  the  means  of  quiet 
ing  the  Disorders  now  subsisting  in  certain  of  the 
Colonies,  Plantations  and  Provinces  of  North  Amer 
ica."  It  can  only  be  remarked  in  passing  that 
the  year  1778  was  not  as  favorable  for  such  nego 
tiations  as  the  year  1775  would  have  been. 


228  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

On  April  17,  1778,  Tryon  writes  to  Governor 
Trumbull  as  follows: 

"Sir,  —  Having  been  honored  with  the  King's 
commands  to  circulate  the  enclosures  to  the  people 
at  large,  I  take  the  liberty  to  offer  them  to  you  for 
your  candid  consideration,  and  to  recommend  that 
through  your  means  the  inhabitants  within  your 
Province  may  be  acquainted  with  the  same,  as 
also  the  other  Provinces  to  the  eastward. 

"I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

"W™  Tryon." 

The  reception  which  this  communication  met  at 
the  hands  of  the  Governor  can  best  be  shown  by 
quoting  his  reply  in  full : 

"Lebanon,  23d  April,  1778. 

"Sir,  -  -  Your  letter  of  the  i7th  instant  from  New 
York  is  received  with  its  enclosures,  and  the  several 
similar  packets  of  various  addresses  with  which  it 
was  accompanied. 

"Propositions  of  peace  are  usually  made  from 
the  supreme  authority  of  one  contending  power  to 
the  similar  authority  of  the  other;  and  the  present 
is  the  first  instance  within  my  recollections  where 
a  vague,  half  blank,  and  very  indefinite  draft  of  a 
bill  once  only  read  before  one  of  three  bodies  of  the 
legislature  of  a  nation  has  ever  been  addressed  to  the 
people  at  large  of  an  opposite  power,  as  an  overture 
of  reconciliation.  There  was  a  day  when  even  this 
step  from  our  then  acknowledged  parent  state  might 
have  been  accepted  with  joy  and  gratitude.  But 
that  day,  Sir,  is  passed  irrevocably.  The  repeated 
insolent  rejection  of  our  sincere  and  sufficiently 


LETTER   TO   TRTON  229 

humble  petitions,  the  unprovoked  commencement 
of  hostilities,  the  barbarous  inhumanity  which  has 
marked  the  prosecution  of  the  war  on  yoifr  part 
in  its  several  stages,  the  insolence  which  displays 
itself  on  every  petty  advantage,  the  cruelty  which 
has  been  exhausted  on  those  unhappy  men  whom 
the  fortune  of  war  has  thrown  into  your  hands,  - 
all  these  are  insuperable  and  eternal  bars  to  the 
very  idea  of  concluding  a  peace  with  Great  Britain 
on  any  other  conditions  than  the  most  absolute  and 
perfect  independency. 

"To  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
therefore,  all  proposals  of  this  kind  are  to  be  ad 
dressed.  And  you  must  give  me  leave,  Sir,  to  say 
that  the  present  mode  bears  too  much  the  marks 
of  an  insidious  design  to  disunite  the  people,  and 
to  lull  us  into  a  state  of  quietude  and  negligence  of 
the  necessary  preparations  for  the  approaching 
campaign. 

"If  this  be  its  real  design  it  is  fruitless.  If  peace 
be  really  the  object  let  your  proposals  be  addressed 
properly  to  the  proper  power,  and  your  negotia 
tions  honorably  conducted,  and  we  shall  then 
have  some  prospect  of  (what  is  the  most  ardent 
wish  of  every  honest  American)  a  lasting  and  honor 
able  peace.  The  British  nation  may  then,  perhaps, 
find  us  as  affectionate  and  valuable  friends  as  we 
are  now  determined  and  fatal  enemies,  and  derive 
from  that  friendship  more  solid  and  real  advantage 
than  the  most  sanguine  can  expect  from  conquest." 
"I  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

"Jonth  Trumbull." 


23o  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL 

The  correspondence  was  renewed  six  months 
later  by  the  transmission  by  Tryon  to  Trumbull 
of  "several  printed  copies  of  the  King's  Commis 
sioners'  Manifesto  and  Proclamation."  These  docu 
ments  appear  to  have  been  sent  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  which  course  Trumbull  commends 
as  the  proper  one  in  his  reply  to  Tryon,  though  he 
deprecates  the  motive  which  seems  to  underlie 
the  "proclamation  and  manifesto."  At  this  time, 
the  bills  abolishing  internal  taxes  and  appointing 
commissioners  to  treat  with  the  colonists  had 
passed  by  vote  of  Parliament.  It  was  a  vote  to 
give  up,  practically,  everything  for  which  Great 
Britain  had  been  contending;  and,  in  view  of  the 
French  alliance  which  had  been  completed,  the 
action  of  the  Mother  Country  was  very  much  like 
locking  the  stable  door  after  the  horse  had  been 
stolen. 

At  the  time  of  Trumbull's  reply  to  Tryon's  first 
communication,  news  of  the  passage  of  these  bills 
had  not  reached  America.  Usually  such  important 
matters  as  this  letter  of  the  Governor's  were  sub 
mitted  to  the  General  Assembly  for  its  approval, 
but  this  body  was  not  in  session  at  the  time,  and 
the  records  of  the  Council  of  Safety  make  no  men 
tion  of  the  affair.  Later  the  Connecticut  delegates 
to  the  Continental  Congress  informed  the  Governor 
that  his  "late  correspondence  with  General  Tryon 
meets  with  universal  approval."  General  Gates, 
to  whom  a  copy  of  this  correspondence  was  sent, 
failed  to  mention  it  in  his  frequent  letters  to  the 
Governor.  Gates  joined  with  the  traitor,  Charles 


AN  IMPORTANT  DUTY  231 

Lee,  in  favoring  negotiations  with  the  British  com 
missioners.1  y 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  assigned  to  the 
Governor  in  this  year  was  the  sending  to  our 
ambassadors  to  France  a  copy  of  the  treaty  of 
alliance  ratified  by  the  Continental  Congress.  The 
letter  transmitting  this  document  to  the  Governor 
reads  thus: 

"Your  Excellency  having  been  requested  by  the 
Marine  Committee  to  have  a  packet  boat  in  readi 
ness  to  carry  important  dispatches  to  France, 
we  have  now  sent  such  to  your  care,  conditionally, 
which  we  desire  you  to  give  in  charge  to  a  trusty 
Captain,  to  deliver  with  his  own  hands  to  our  Com 
missioners  at  Paris.  Your  wisdom  will  dictate 
pointed  orders  for  conveying  the  packets  without 
injury,  wth  secresy  &  with  dispatch;  but,  for  sink 
ing  them  in  case  the  vessel  should  be  unfortunately 
taken. 

"We  are  respectfully 

"Your  Excellency's  humble  servants, 

"Richard  Henry  Lee, 
"  James  Lovell. 

"York  Town,  May  iQth,  1778 

"Governour  Trumbull" 

In  compliance  with  this  request,  the  little  schooner 
Spy,  of  fifty  tons'  burden,  under  command  of  Cap 
tain  Robert  Niles,  was  selected  for  this  important 
service.  Of  the  six  vessels  separately  despatched 
for  this  purpose,  the  Spy  was  the  only  one  which 

1  Lecky.    "England  in  the  i8th  Century."      Vol.  4,  p.  85. 


232  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

escaped  capture.  She  was  a  fleet  little  schooner, 
under  an  able  and  trustworthy  captain,  and  it 
is  to  be  supposed  that  the  wisdom  of  the  Governor 
and  Council  in  making  the  selection  lay  partly  in 
the  fact  that  it  would  seem  impossible  to  the  enemy 
that  so  small  a  craft  would  cross  the  Atlantic  as 
an  American  war  vessel.  The  passage  from  Stoning- 
ton  to  Brest  was  made  in  twenty-one  days,  and 
Captain  Niles  had  the  honor  of  delivering  into  the 
hands  of  Benjamin  Franklin  at  Paris  his  mail  con 
taining  this  precious  document,  "being",  as  the 
records  of  the  Council  of  Safety  state,  "the  first 
account  he  had  received  of  that  event,  which  was 
greatly  satisfactory  to  him  and  the  French  ministry 
and  nation  in  general",  etc. 

On  July  23,  1778,  the  Governor  suffered  a  sad 
bereavement  in  the  death  of  his  eldest  son,  Joseph, 
whose  career  as  a  young  merchant  and  later  as 
Commissary  General  has  been  outlined  in  several 
previous  chapters.  Informing  Washington  of  his 
loss,  the  Governor  writes,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July': 

"I  very  sincerely  thank  your  Excellency  for  your 
friendly  and  affectionate  good  will  and  wishes  towards 
my  late  dear  son,  whom  it  pleased  the  sovereign 
Arbiter  of  life  and  death  to  remove  from  this  world 
about  sunrising  of  the  23d  instant. 

"This  is  a  heavy  and  sore  breach  upon  me;  but 
it  is  my  duty  to  be  still  and  know  that  God  has 
done  it,  who  has  a  right  to  dispose  of  all  His  crea 
tures  as  He  pleaseth,  and  ever  exercises  that  right 
in  perfect  consistence  with  holiness,  justice  and 
goodness." 


DEArH  OF  JOSEPH   TRUMBULL      233 

To  this  intelligence  Washington  replies  on  the 
twenty-eighth : 

"I  sincerely  condole  with  you  on  the  death  of 
your  worthy  son,  Colonel  Joseph  Trumbull,  whose 
exertions  in  the  cause  of  his  country,  while  he  con 
tinued  in  a  public  character,  will  reflect  honor  upon 
his  memory;  and  for  whom,  when  living,  I  enter 
tained  a  most  cordial  regard." 

Joseph  Trumbull  had  been  married  a  little  more 
than  a  year  to  Amelia,  daughter  of  Eliphalet  Dyer. 
He  left  no  children.  The  settlement  of  his  estate 
was  a  most  complicated  undertaking,  and  devolved 
mainly  upon  his  father  and  his  brother  Jonathan. 
Unsettled  accounts  with  the  Continental  Congress 
formed,  of  course,  the  chief  difficulty.  On  the 
sixth  of  October,  the  Governor  writes  to  his  good 
friend  Henry  Laurens,  President  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  presenting  a  memorial  to  Congress  re 
garding  the  unsettled  claims  of  his  son  Joseph. 
One  paragraph  in  this  letter  is  so  characteristic  that 
it  must  be  quoted: 

"I  am  little  apt,  and  always  unwilling  to  speak 
advantageously  of  myself  or  my  children;  but  as 
after  all  some  justice  is  due  to  one's  self  and  to 
them,  as  well  as  to  others,  I  beg  leave  to  represent 
that  the  attachment  of  myself,  of  this  son  of  mine, 
and  my  whole  family,  to  the  American  cause  and 
independency  was  always  unshaken,  our  endeavors 
to  promote  the  same  unwearied.  That  his  prin 
ciples  were  honest  and  honorable,  his  doings  in  his 
department  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  General,  of 
the  officers,  and  of  the  army.  That  he  had,  and  his 


234  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

relict  and  heirs  have,  a  common  claim  to  a  just  and 
reasonable  reward  for  his  services." 

President  Laurens*  reply,  speaking  of  the  delayed 
action  of  Congress  regarding  this  claim,  says : 

"The  best  influence  on  that  occasion  was  to  assure 
my  friends  who  were  unacquainted  with  the  merits 
of  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Trumbull,  that  he  had  been 
one  of  the  best  servants  of  Congress,  that  I  was 
persuaded  had  he  been  continued  in  the  office  of 
Commissary  upon  his  own  terms  the  public  would 
have  saved  five  millions  of  dollars  or  more,  and 
many  hundreds  of  soldiers.  To  prove  this  to  the 
satisfaction  of  every  reasonable  person  will  not 
be  difficult  to  me.  It  requires  only  a  retrospect  to 
the  circumstances  of  our  army  at  Valley  Forge 
during  the  last  winter,  and  to  the  amazing  advance 
of  every  species  of  provision  immediately  after  the 
stores  which  he  had  amassed  were  consumed." 

After  much  correspondence,  and  as  the  result 
of  a  long  sojourn  in  Philadelphia  by  the  Governor's 
son  Jonathan,  who  acted  as  the  administrator  of 
his  brother  Joseph's  estate,  the  accounts  of  the  late 
Commissary  General  were  finally  settled  by  Con 
gress  by  an  allowance  of  one  half  per  cent,  on  all 
money  received,  and  two  and  one  half  per  cent, 
on  all  money  expended  in  purchases.  These  al 
lowances  were  accompanied  by  resolutions  of  Con 
gress  highly  commending  the  services  of  the  late 
Commissary  General. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE  WYOMING  MASSACRE BATTLE  OF  RHODE  ISLAND 

-  FAILURE  —  THE        GOVERNOR^        COMMENTS  —  HIS 
SON    A    VOLUNTEER  —  GENERAL    GATES    ENTERTAINED 

AT       HARTFORD NAVAL       SUCCESSES  —  BUSHNELL's 

TORPEDO  —  FINANCES  —  CONFEDERATION    URGEp    BY 

TRUMBULL 

ADDED  to  the  sorrows  and  anxieties  of  this 
sad  summer,  the  news  of  the  terrible 
Wyoming  massacre  reached  the  Governor 
at  about  the  time  of  his  son's  death.  We 
have  seen  his  interest  in  Connecticut's  right  to 
the  territory  where  this  tragedy  occurred  in  the 
able  statement  which  he  made  of  the  Susquehanna 
case,  so  called.  At  this  time --July,  1778 --the 
Wyoming  valley  was  Connecticut  soil  both  by 
charter  rights  and  legislative  enactment;  for  it 
lay  in  the  County  of  Westmoreland,  having  pre 
viously  been  a  part  of  Litchfield  County,  and  sent  its 
deputies  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut. 
Although  the  State  with  this  far-off  addition  was  a 
geographical  absurdity,  the  claim  was  in  force,  and 
the  population  was  largely  composed  of  people  from 
the  Connecticut  of  New  England  who  had  settled 
in  the  beautiful  valley  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Susquehanna  Company. 

The  horrors  of  this  massacre  are  too  well  known 
to  every  reader  of  American  history  to  need  recital 

235 


236  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

here.  All  the  vindictiveness  of  evicted  Tories  was 
added  to  the  savage  instincts  of  their  Indian  allies, 
aroused  to  the  full  by  the  victory  of  an  overwhelm 
ing  force  over  a  little  band  of  brave  defenders  of  their 
homes.  The  only  safety  for  the  survivors  lay  in 
flight  through  a  strange  and  sometimes  trackless 
country.  Of  these  survivors  but  few  men  were  left ; 
and  women,  children  and  aged  men  made  up  the 
bulk  of  this  crowd  of  hapless  refugees.  They  reached 
their  old  Connecticut  homes  after  untold  sufferings 
and  hardships.  Their  story  was  told  to  Governor 
Trumbull  by  "Messrs  Jenkins,  Gallup  and  Harding, 
persons  of  integrity  who  removed  from  the  eastern 
part  of  this  State,  and  settled  at  said  Westmoreland, 
and  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape  the  carnage/' 1 

As  a  result  of  the  Governor's  request  to  Congress 
and  his  correspondence  with  Washington,  three 
regiments,  with  a  part  of  Morgan's  rifle  corps,  were 
sent  to  Wyoming.  These  forces  were,  as  Washing 
ton  writes,  "of  considerable  service",  enabling  the 
Connecticut  settlers  to  return  to  their  former  homes 
and  secure  crops  which  had  escaped  destruction. 

The  Cherry  Valley  massacre,  which  occurred  in 
the  following  November,  made  it  necessary  that 
more  active  measures  should  be  taken  to  prevent 
such  barbarous  raids  as  were  made  at  Wyoming 
and  Cherry  Valley.  Sullivan's  Indian  campaign  was 
organized  and  undertaken  in  the  following  July. 
This  plan  was  contemplated  soon  after  the  Wyoming 
horror,  but  the  military  situation  was  such  at  that 
time  that  it  was  necessary  to  wait  before  taking 

1  Letter  of  Governor  Trumbull  to  General  Washington,  August  27,  1778. 


MILITARY  MEASURES  237 

this  measure,  the  results  of  which  the  Governor 
had  the  satisfaction  of  learning.  With  true  Con 
necticut  grit  and  perseverance  the  Wyoming  settlers 
now  returned,  and  renewed  their  industries  in  that 
beautiful  valley  in  comparative  security.  In  1782, 
by  decree  of  a  council  appointed  by  Congress, 
Connecticut  was  deprived  of  all  jurisdiction  in  this 
section  where  for  so  many  years  her  sons  had  settled, 
so  that  their  claims  for  indemnity  for  their  losses 
in  war  could  not  be  recognized  by  the  State  go^ern- 
ment  under  which  they  had  settled,  or  by  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  to  which  later  jurisdiction  was 
given. 

In  the  midst  of  the  grief  and  anxieties  occasioned 
by  the  illness  and  death  of  his  son,  and  by  the 
Wyoming  massacre,  an  important  military  move 
ment  almost  at  the  doors  of  Connecticut  called  for 
the  most  arduous  and  prompt  measures  on  the  part 
of  the  Governor  and  his  Council.  This  was  the 
attempt,  with  the  aid  of  the  French  fleet  under 
Admiral  D'Estaing,  to  dislodge  the  enemy  from  their 
stronghold  at  Newport  and  to  drive  them  out  of 
Rhode  Island,  the  only  place  on  New  England  soil 
where  they  still  retained  a  foothold.  In  July  letters 
came  pouring  in  upon  the  Governor  from  Washing 
ton  and  from  President  Laurens,  urging  every 
possible  attention  on  the  part  of  Connecticut  to 
the  wants  of  the  French  fleet,  and  reinforce 
ments  for  General  Sullivan  in  command  at  Rhode 
Island;  from  Governor  Greene,  to  the  same  effect; 
and  from  Sullivan,  expecting  an  attack  on  Provi 
dence  and  calling  most  earnestly  for  men  from  Con- 


238  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

necticut.  In  response  to  these  requests,  seven  com 
panies  of  infantry  and  one  matross  company  were 
immediately  sent,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  drains 
made  upon  the  State  for  keeping  up  its  quota  in 
the  main  army.  Fifty  barrels  of  beef  and  one 
hundred  barrels  of  pork  were  also  forwarded  from 
Connecticut's  commissary's  stores  at  Boston  by 
direction  of  the  Governor  to  meet  an  emergency 
call  from  General  Sullivan;  and  during  this  short 
campaign  two  hundred  barrels  of  powder  were 
sent,  at  Governor  Greene's  request,  to  replace 
ammunition  destroyed  by  the  severe  and  unpre 
cedented  rainstorm  of  August.  Water  boats  were 
fitted  out  at  New  London  by  Washington's  request 
to  supply  the  French  fleet,  and  pilots  were  in  readi 
ness  to  meet  this  fleet  on  its  arrival. 

In  July,  everything  appeared  auspicious,  and 
Connecticut  patriots  were  already  rejoicing  in  im 
agination  at  the  prospect  of  a  signal  victory.  Proc 
lamations  of  a  hopeful  and  encouraging  tone, 
calling  for  volunteers  in  addition  to  the  quota, 
were  issued  by  the  Governor.  The  French  alliance 
was  regarded  as  an  "interposition  of  Providence", 
the  first  fruits  of  which  were  to  be  gathered  near 
a  town  of  that  name  in  Rhode  Island.  But  this 
was  not  to  be.  A  tremendous  storm  arose  at  the 
time  when  the  French  fleet  was  maneuvering  to 
engage  the  British  fleet,  and  scattered  the  ships, 
dismasting  some  of  them.  On  returning  to  New 
port,  Admiral  D'Estaing,  in  spite  of  earnest  protests 
from  Sullivan  and  others,  insisted  on  sailing  for 
Boston  to  refit,  and  the  American  forces,  largely 


BATTLE  OF  RHODE  ISLAND          239 

outnumbered,  were  left  without  their  expected  naval 
support,  and  obliged  to  retire.  On  this  subject 
Governor  Trumbull  writes  Washington,  on  the 
twenty-seventh  of  August : 

"Thus  are  our  raised  expectations  from  an  ex 
pedition,  which  had  all  the  appearance  of  success, 
damped.  This  shows  us  that  we  ought  not  to 
place  our  dependence  too  much  on  foreign  aid;- 
but  may  such  disappointment  teach  us  to  place 
our  trust  and  confidence  in  that  Supreme  Being 
who  governs  the  universe,  and  can,  with  infinite 
ease,  turn  those  things  which  we  are  ready  to  con 
clude  are  against  us,  eventually  to  our  advantage, 
in  whose  allwise  disposals  may  we  cheerfully  ac 
quiesce,  and  rest  satisfied  that  whatever  He  doth  is 
right." 

The  anxiety  of  the  Governor  regarding  this  short 
campaign  was  greatly  heightened  by  the  fact  that 
his  youngest  son,  John,  had  volunteered  as  an  aide 
to  General  Sullivan,  and  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  August,  being  obliged 
to  carry  Sullivan's  orders  from  one  division  to 
another  at  great  personal  risk  from  the  showers  of 
musket  balls,  grapeshot,  and  round  shot  through 
which  he  passed  on  horseback,  in  performance  of  his 
duties.  He  fortunately  escaped  injury,  and  says 
in  his  reminiscences: 

"It  becomes  me  to  say  with  the  Psalmist,  'I 
thank  thee,  O  thou  Most  High,  for  thou  hast  covered 
my  head  in  the  day  of  battle.'  For  never  was  aide 
de  camp  exposed  to  more  danger  than  I  was  during 
that  entire  day,  from  daylight  to  dusk." 


24o  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

His  son's  participation  in  this  battle  formed  a 
new  bond  of  sympathy  between  the  Governor  and 
President  Laurens,  for  on  the  fifth  of  the  following 
October  we  find  the  former  writing  to  the  latter: 

"With  great  sincerity  and  satisfaction  I  beg  leave 
to  congratulate  your  Excellency  on  the  happy 
escape  from  danger  of  your  son  in  the  late  attempt 
on  Rhode  Island,  and  on  the  honor  he  has  very 
justly  obtained  from  the  share  he  bore  in  the  events 
of  that  expedition,  particularly  in  the  memorable 
battle  fought  on  that  island. 

"With  much  gratitude  to  the  disposer  of  events 
I  also  acknowledge  the  safety  of  my  youngest  son, 
who  voluntarily,  and  without  my  approbation, 
shared  the  like  dangers  in  the  same  expedition." 

To  this  President  Laurens  replies  on  November  10: 

"I  perceive,  Sir,  we  were  in  equal  danger  on  the 
28  August,  and  that  we  have  each  of  us  particular 
cause  for  thankfulness  for  the  escape  of  our  children 
from  dangers  to  which  their  love  of  country  had 
exposed  them.  My  own  inform  me  what  were  your 
feelings  while  the  event  of  the  day  remained  un 
known  to  us,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  we  have 
both  learned  in  all  cases,  under  the  severest  pangs 
arising  from  apprehensions,  such  as  I  confess  I  felt, 
on  that  occasion,  and  in  deep  distress  from  real 
misfortunes,  to  say,  -  'Thy  will  be  done." 

The  brilliant  military  career  of  President  Laurens' 
son  John  here  referred  to  lasted  throughout  the  war, 
and  was  brought  to  a  sad  end,  in  a  little  skirmish  in 
1782,  in  which  he  fell,  mortally  wounded,  at  the 
head  of  his  troops. 


NAVAL  SUCCESSES  241 

The  equally  distinguished  and  more  varied  career 
of  Colonel  John  Trumbull  was  destined  to  last 
more  than  half  a  century  beyond  the  career  of  the 
brave  Colonel  John  Laurens. 

It  was  during  the  month  of  October  in  this  year 
that  General  Gates,  with  his  staff,  was  much  more 
royally  entertained  at  Hartford  than  he  deserved 
to  be.  He  stood  high  in  popular  favor  at  this  time, 
since  the  magnanimous  Washington  had  keptyhis 
share  in  the  Conway  cabal  as  profound  a  secret  as 
possible,  and  the  bubble  of  his  military  reputation 
was  yet  to  burst  by  means  of  his  blundering  cam 
paign  in  the  South.  The  sum  of  £500  was  appro 
priated  by  the  General  Assembly  for  the  reception 
given  to  him  at  Hartford,  thirteen  toasts  were 
drunk,  among  them  one  to  "General  Washington 
and  the  American  Army",  in  which  it  is  hoped  he 
responded  more  warmly  than  to  a  similar  toast 
proposed  by  Lafayette  on  a  previous  occasion. 
Another  of  these  toasts  was  "The  American  Navy", 
which  touched  Connecticut  quite  closely  at  this 
time  in  view  of  the  recent  capture  of  the  British 
warships  Admiral  Keppel  and  Cyrus  1  by  the  Con 
necticut  warships  Oliver  Cromwell  and  Defence. 
These  were  valuable  prizes,  as  the  following  extract 
from  a  letter  of  Samuel  Eliot,  Junior,  Connecticut's 
agent  at  Boston,  goes  to  show: 

"It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  am  able  to  inform 
your  Excellency,  that  the  Kepple  and  Cyrus  prizes 
turn  out  so  well  as  not  only  to  pay  the  moneys 

1  The  name  of  this  vessel  is  given  in  unofficial  papers  as  the  Cygnus.  New 
London  Company  Hist.  Soc.  Records  and  papers,  vol.  i,  pt.  4,  p.  38. 


242  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

advanc'd  for  the  Defence  and  Cromwell,  but  that 
I  shall  be  able  to  remit  a  very  large  sum  to  the 
State." 

This  sum  was  expected  to  reach  at  least  £5,000. 
These  were  said  to  be  the  most  important  prizes 
captured  by  Connecticut  vessels  during  the  war. 
During  the  previous  year  the  aggregate  of  prize 
money  was  larger,  and  the  losses  of  American  vessels 
fewer,  the  value  of  prizes  for  that  year  being  esti 
mated  at  £200,000.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  naval 
service  of  the  State  in  the  Revolution  has  never 
received  from  historians  the  notice  which  it  de 
served.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  during  the  war  no 
fewer  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  armed  vessels 
of  various  kinds  and  classes  were  fitted  out  in  this 
little  State  for  naval  service ;  and  the  position  of  the 
Governor  as  commander  in  chief  of  the  naval  as 
well  as  the  military  forces  of  Connecticut  added 
largely  to  his  burdens  and  responsibilities.  The 
British  soon  learned  that  such  a  thing  as  an  American 
war  vessel  was  neither  an  impossibility  nor  a  farce, 
and  the  moral  effect  of  Connecticut's  motley  fleet 
was  a  much  more  important  factor  than  it  is  gener 
ally  supposed  to  be.  This  moral  effect,  too,  was 
much  enhanced  by  the  invention  made  by  David 
Bushnell  of  Saybrook.  This  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  marine  torpedo  known  to  history.  The 
Governor  was  much  interested  in  this  invention 
which,  though  it  did  not  actually  do  much  damage, 
gave  to  the  British  that  sense  of  the  unknown  risks 
which  might  be  encountered  at  anchor  which  was 
extremely  annoying,  and  probably  prevented  some 


FINANCIAL  PROBLEMS  243 

coastwise  movements  which  might  have  been  under 
taken  if  this  risk  had  not  stood  in  the  way.  Bush- 
nell's  machine  also  inspired  the  pen  of  Francis 
Hopkinson,  whose  "Battle  of  the  Kegs"  appeared 
at  a  time  when  the  enemy  were  much  alarmed  by 
amazing  submarine  explosions  in  the  vicinity  of 
their  fleet,  and  added  ridicule  to  their  alarm. 

Bushnell  appeared  before  the  Governor  and  Coun 
cil  with  models  of  his  machine,  and  was  given  every 
facility  which  the  State  could  afford  for  carrying 
on  his  enterprise.  He  was  also  recommended  to 
Congress,  in  the  hope  that  Federal  aid  would  be 
granted  him;  and  in  1779  he  was  warmly  recom 
mended  by  Governor  Trumbull  to  Washington,  who 
granted  him  the  positon  of  Captain  in  his  corps  of 
sappers  and  miners,  which  did  good  service  at 
Yorktown. 

By  no  means  the  least  of  the  cares  and  anxieties 
which  beset  the  Governor  during  this  eventful  year 
1778  was  the  money  problem.  Connecticut's  policy 
since  1776  had  been,  at  his  earnest  recommendation, 
to  issue  no  more  State  bills  of  credit,  but  to  meet 
expenses  by  direct  taxation.  The  expedients  of 
Congress  for  raising  money  through  State  loan 
offices,  lotteries,  and  other  devices  failed  to  accom 
plish  their  object;  and  in  1778  Congress  resorted  to 
Connecticut's  simple  and  sound  expedient  of  taxa 
tion.  The  sum  of  $5,000,000  was  apportioned 
among  the  thirteen  States,  the  share  of  Connecticut 
being  $600,000,  which,  although  far  beyond  her 
just  proportion,  Connecticut  promptly  assumed  and 
promptly  provided  for  by  laying  a  tax  to  raise  the 


244  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

money.  The  correspondence  of  the  Governor  with 
the  Connecticut  delegates  to  the  Continental  Con 
gress  and  with  President  Laurens  is  full  of  recom 
mendations,  discussions  and  suggestions  on  this 
all-important  subject  of  the  finances  of  the  country, 
in  the  hope  that  some  uniform  and  sound  plan  might 
be  adopted  by  which  the  thirteen  States  might 
work  together  in  harmony  for  the  common  good. 

In  November,  1778,  the  Governor's  son  Jonathan 
was  unanimously  appointed  Comptroller  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  a  position  which, 
as  Roger  Sherman  says,  placed  him  at  the  head  of 
this  department. 

The  newly  appointed  Comptroller  had  been  in 
Philadelphia  for  some  time,  endeavoring  to  arrange 
with  Congress  for  a  settlement  of  the  accounts  of 
his  late  brother  Joseph,  and  no  doubt  had  shown  his 
financial  ability  in  a  way  to  recommend  him  to  this 
office.  Sherman  at  this  time  had  been  the  means  of 
reorganizing  the  Treasury  Department,  and  doubt 
less  favored  the  appointment  of  the  Comptroller. 
This  position,  during  the  time  he  held  it,  enabled 
him  to  give  valuable  information  to  his  father 
regarding  the  state  of  the  national  finances. 

In  addition  to  his  solicitude  for  the  finances  of 
the  country,  Trumbull  was  also  deeply  solicitous 
regarding  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  to  which 
some  of  the  States  were  so  slow  to  agree.  His 
correspondence  with  the  Connecticut  delegates  makes 
frequent  mention  of  the  need  of  confederation,  as, 
for  example,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  August: 

"I  am  exceedingly  anxious  to  see  our  confedera- 


CONFEDERATION   URGED  245 

tion  compleated.  The  four  States  —  how  long 
must  the  others  wait  for  them?  If  they  are  not 
like  to  comply  soon,  should  we  not  confederate 
without  them?" 

And  again,  on  the  eighth  of  December: 

"A  foreign  loan  taken  upon  proper  principles 
appears  to  me  much  more  eligible.  There  is  no 
doubt  it  may  be  obtained  when  Confederation 
is  settled,  and  funds  for  it  can  be  laid.  Why.,  are 
not  the  Articles  of  Confederation  concluded?  Is 
it  not  needful  this  and  the  affair  of  our  finances 
be  finally  settled  before  the  enemy  leave  us?  Will 
not  these  things  left  for  an  after-settlement  breed 
internal  differences?" 

In  view  of  subsequent  events,  there  was  something 
prophetic  in  these  questions  of  Connecticut's  patri 
otic  Governor. 

In  the  midst  of  this  solicitude  for  the  general 
good,  it  is  rarely  that  we  get  even  the  slightest 
personal  reflection.  The  documents  he  has  left 
us  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  public  and  impersonal 
character,  continually  informed  and  inspired  by  an 
abiding  religious  faith  which  was  so  much  a  part 
of  his  public  life  that  it  frequently  appears  in  his 
correspondence  and  official  utterances.  We  may 
catch  something  of  his  view  of  his  own  life,  in  con 
nection  with  his  broad  view  of  public  affairs,  from 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  which  he  wrote 
to  Silas  Deane,  with  whom  he  was  then  on  intimate 
terms  on  October  6,  1778.  Speaking  of  the  death 
of  his  son,  he  says: 

"The  treatment  he  met,  without  thanks  or  re- 


246  JONATHAN   TRUMBULl 

ward  for  more  than  two  years'  indefatigable  labours 
and  risque,  grieved  him  to  the  heart,  brought  on  and 
increased  his  bodily  disorders,  preyed  on  his  con 
stitution,  exhausted  his  spirits,  wore  them  out,  and 
finished  his  days.  Mine  are  nearly  terminated; 
may  afflictions  wean  me  from  a  fondness  for  life, 
and  quicken  my  preparations  for  an  exchange  of 
worlds.  The  curtain  is  thin,  yet  perfectly  dark, 
save  what  is  revealed  by  the  Lord.  We  live  by 
faith  and  not  by  sight.  We  are  in  the  latter  end  of 
the  last  days.  The  marvellous  events  of  Providence 
seem  to  open  to  our  view  a  rising  empire  in  this 
western  world,  to  enlarge  our  Redeemer's  kingdom 
and  to  pull  down  the  Papacy.  Another,  the  Russian, 
is  rising  in  the  north  quarters  to  subdue  the  Otto 
man,  to  dry  up  the  waters  of  the  River  Euphrates, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  kings  of  the  east. 

"A  commonwealth  is  the  most  rational  and 
equitable  form  of  government;  it  grows  and  flourishes 
where  virtue  is  its  object ;  it  decays  and  sinks  where 
luxury,  the  source  of  corruption,  prevails  and  in- 
creaseth. 

"May  these  States  become  free  and  independent, 
union  and  harmony  be  established,  virtue  encouraged 
and  maintained,  and  peace  restored  and  confirmed 
with  all  the  world." 

Within  a  week  from  the  time  of  writing  this 
letter  Governor  Trumbull  had  completed  his  sixty- 
eighth  year. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

SCARCITY   OF   PROVISIONS GOVERNOR,  TRYON   AGAIN 

THREATENS  AN  INVASION --HE  ATTACKS  NEW  HAVEN 

AND    BURNS    FAIRFIELD    AND    NORWALK ARREST    OF 

WILLIAM   SAMUEL  JOHNSON  --  HIS  RELEASE  --  FINAN 
CIAL  AFFAIRS — TRUMBULL'S  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH 

VAN     DER     CAPELLAN -- HIS     PLANS     FORA     HISTORY 
OF    THE    REVOLUTION 

THE  continued  and  incessant  drain  upon 
Connecticut  began  to  be  more  keenly  felt 
than  ever  before  at  the  opening  of  the 
year  1779.  Hay  reached  the  price  of  two 
hundred  dollars  per  ton  at  about  this  time,  and 
Commissary  General  Wadsworth  speaks  feelingly 
of  the  difficulties  of  his  situation  in  a  letter  to  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  dated  April  sixth,  telling  how  he  has 
scoured  the  country  for  flour  especially,  and  finds 
little  or  none  to  be  had.  He  expresses  fears  that 
the  troops  at  New  London  are  at  that  moment 
without  bread,  and  speaks  of  the  absurdity  of 
seizing  flour  under  the  law  in  the  following  words : 

"If  it  were  possible  to  obtain  bread  for  the  army 
by  the  present  law,  the  expense  is  so  great  that  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States  is  not  sufficient  to 
pay  for  it." 

He  encloses  a  statement  of  the  cost  of  thirty- 
four  "casks"  of  flour,  containing  about  the  quantity 
which  our  present  barrels  contain,  and  costing  by 

247 


248  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  process  of  seizure  and  appraisal  the  sum  of 
£1412,  is.  8d. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  this  year,  Yale  College 
was  dismissed  some  three  weeks  earlier  than  usual, 
and  the  winter  vacation  extended  two  weeks  beyond 
the  usual  time,  because  it  was  impossible  for  the 
steward  to  procure  flour  "to  uphold  Commons  in 
the  Hall."1  On  the  second  of  February  we  find 
President  Stiles  writing  to  Governor  Trumbull  ask 
ing  for  an  order  on  the  Commissary  General  for 
fifty  or  sixty  barrels  of  flour  for  the  use  of  the  college. 

About  this  time  the  soul  of  the  Governor  is  vexed 
by  a  communication  from  Governor  Tryon  of  New 
York,  again  apparently  attempting  pacification  by 
mail,  and  to  that  end  sending  "some  publications 
of  the  loyal  city  of  New  York"  and  asking  for 
newspapers  from  Connecticut;  at  the  same  time 
assuring  the  Governor  that  he  has  nothing  to  conceal 
"but  our  military  operations;  and  we  should  be 
happy  if  a  prudent  and  sensible  moderation  on  your 
side  would  give  us  occasion  to  make  them  unneces 
sary."  To  this  communication  no  reply  appears 
on  record.  Immediate  measures,  however,  were 
taken  by  the  Governor,  on  his  own  initiative,  to 
strengthen  the  defenses  of  New  London,  which 
town  it  was  believed  would  soon  be  attacked  by 
Tryon.  The  Governor's  course  was  promptly  ap 
proved  by  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  reinforce 
ments  were  ordered  to  New  London  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  cautious  Tryon  refrained  from  making 
the  expected  attack. 

literary  Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  vol.  2,  pp.  315,  316,  320,  321. 


RAID  ON  NEW  HAVEN  249 

For  three  months  and  more  from  this  time, 
Tryon  appears  to  have  been  watching  for  a  vulner 
able  point  on  the  Connecticut  coast;  and  early  in 
July  made  a  demonstration  towards  Norwalk  and 
Fairfield,  in  which  such  portion  of  his  forces  as 
were  engaged  were  repulsed  by  the  brave  home 
guard  of  these  two  towns.  This  was,  perhaps,  a 
reconnoitering  expedition,  or  a  feint  on  Tryon's 
part,  as  the  entire  force  engaged  in  this  demons^ra- 
tion  was  reported  to  Governor  Trumbull  to  be 
about  two  hundred  men,  with  six  vessels 
carrying  in  all  about  twenty  guns.  In  the  previous 
February,  Tryon  had  made  a  border  raid  at  Horse- 
neck,  destroying  the  salt  works  there,  and  giving 
the  occasion  for  Putnam's  famous  ride  to  Stratford, 
in  which  he  exceeded  the  eulogy  on  his  tombstone 
by  daring  to  lead  where  no  one  dared  to  follow. 

Tryon's  demonstration  at  Norwalk  and  Fairfield 
was  the  signal  for  a  series  of  raids  on  defenseless 
Connecticut  towns.  On  the  morning  of  Monday, 
the  fifth  of  July,  as  the  people  of  New  Haven  were 
preparing  to  celebrate  the  third  anniversary  of 
American  independence,  a  fleet  of  forty  vessels 
under  the  naval  command  of  Sir  George  Collier 
and  the  military  command  of  William  Tryon  and 
General  George  Garth  appeared  off  West  Haven, 
where  about  one  thousand  men  under  Garth  were 
landed,  and  later  at  East  Haven,  where  about 
twelve  hundred  men  under  Tryon  landed  with  the 
purpose  of  joining  Garth  at  New  Haven.  Both 
these  divisions  met  with  gallant  opposition  from 
the  hastily  gathered  defenders,  among  whom  were 


JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

a  number  of  Yale  students  together  with  the  vener 
able  President  of  Yale,  Doctor  Naphtali  Daggett. 
Having  entered  New  Haven,  a  scene  of  plunder, 
murder  and  rapine  took  place  which  goes  far  to 
blacken  the  record  of  the  British  and  Hessian 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution.  The  approach  of  four 
regiments  of  militia  under  General  Andrew  Ward 
caused  Tryon  and  his  men  to  make  a  hasty  retreat 
to  their  ships  on  the  following  morning.  The  news 
of  this  raid  was  reported  to  Governor  Trumbull  by 
General  Ward  from  his  military  point  of  view,  and 
in  fuller  detail  by  Peter  Colt. 

The  raid  on  New  Haven  was  followed  by  a  similar 
attack  on  Fairfield  on  the  eighth  of  July.  Un 
fortunately,  no  organized  plan  for  meeting  this 
attack  could  be  made;  and  though  the  handful 
of  men  who  were  able  to  oppose  the  invaders  stood 
their  ground  bravely,  the  work  of  destruction  was 
quickly  carried  out,  and  practically  the  whole 
town,  with  some  of  the  outlying  parishes,  perished 
in  the  flames.  Here,  as  at  New  Haven,  a  proclama 
tion  was  read  or  published,  offering  indemnity  to 
those  who  peacefully  occupied  their  homes  during 
the  invasion,  and  to  civil  and  military  officers  who 
"give  proof  of  their  penitence  and  voluntary  sub 
mission."  Before  this  proclamation  had  reached 
those  to  whom  it  was  addressed,  one  half  the  town 
of  Fairfield  was  in  flames,  and  the  other  half  doomed. 

Quickly  withdrawing  from  Fairfield,  under  a 
harassing  fire,  the  fleet  crossed  to  Huntington, 
Long  Island,  where  it  remained  until  the  tenth, 
taking  in  supplies.  Norwalk  was  the  next  victim. 


NORWALK  DESTROYED  251 

Early  in  the  morning  of  July  eleventh  a  landing  was 
effected,  and  Garth  and  Tryon  approached  the 
fated  town  by  two  different  routes.  Although  a 
force  of  seven  hundred  militia  had  been  despatched 
to  Norwalk  by  the  Governor's  orders,  under  General 
Oliver  Wolcott,  and  a  small  force  of  Continentals 
under  General  Samuel  H.  Parsons  was  also  present, 
but  little  opposition  to  the  invaders  was  made, 
and  Norwalk  was  also  burned  to  the  ground. 

This  ended  Tryon's  series  of  raids  on  Connecticut. 
To  reinforce  the  raw  militia  under  General  Wolcott, 
Washington  had  now  ordered  two  Connecticut 
brigades,  under  General  William  Heath,  to  march 
from  their  headquarters  in  the  Highlands  "towards 
Bedford."  Having  learned  of  the  raids  on  New 
Haven,  Fairfield  and  Norwalk,  Heath  marched  his 
two  brigades  towards  Stamford,  which  town  ap 
peared  to  be  threatened  by  Tryon,  whose  caution 
caused  him  to  refrain  from  the  proposed  attack 
in  view  of  the  American  force  now  opposed  to  him. 

The  situation  in  Connecticut  was  now  serious  and 
alarming,  and  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Safety 
busied  themselves  in  providing  as  fully  as  possible 
for  the  defense  of  New  London  and  other  important 
towns  along  the  coast  which  might  be  in  danger  of 
an  attack.  These  raids  of  Tryon's  resulted,  of 
course,  in  great  hardships  to  the  people  of  New 
Haven,  Fairfield  and  Norwalk,  the  last  two  towns 
being  practically  wiped  out  of  existence,  and  the 
first  having  suffered  from  the  brutal  outrages, 
plundering,  murders  and  rapine  to  which  all  three 
were  subjected. 


252  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

In  connection  with  the  alarm  and  indignation  of 
the  sufferers  and  their  neighbors,  an  episode  oc 
curred  which  placed  Governor  Trumbull  in  a  very 
delicate  and  disagreeable  position.  This  was  the 
arrest  of  William  Samuel  Johnson,  whose  letters 
from  England  and  whose  excellent  service  as  agent 
for  Connecticut  some  ten  years  before  this  time  have 
been  fully  referred  to  in  some  of  the  earlier  chapters. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  —  or,  more 
properly,  from  the  time  of  his  fruitless  embassy  to 
General  Gage  at  Boston  -  -  Johnson  had  retired 
to  private  life  in  his  native  town  of  Stratford,  be 
lieving  that  independence  could  never  be  achieved 
by  his  young  and  feeble  country  through  war  with 
the  mighty  Mother  Country.  He  had,  however, 
remained  strictly  neutral.  At  the  time  of  Tryon's 
raids,  the  people  of  Stratford  were  panic-stricken. 
Knowing  Johnson  to  be  well  acquainted  with  Tryon, 
they  insisted  that  he  should  intercede  with  him  to 
save  their  town  from  destruction.  Johnson  plainly 
said  to  them  that  such  intercession  would  be  use 
less.  A  town  meeting  was  then  called,  at  which 
resolutions  were  passed  that  Johnson  and  others 
should  undertake  this  mission;  upon  which,  be 
lieving  himself  legally  bound  as  a  townsman  to 
obey  the  instructions  of  this  all-potent  assembly, 
he  consented  to  do  what  he  could,  and  drew  up  a 
paper  to  be  signed  by  leading  townsmen,  who  made 
the  request  in  writing,  and  promised  support  and 
indemnity  to  himself  and  those  who  acted  with  him. 

News  of  this  proceeding  was  at  once  communi 
cated  to  General  Oliver  Wolcott,  who  despatched 


ARREST  OF  JOHNSON  253 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Jonathan  Dimon  to  Stratford. 
He  summoned  Johnson  and  others  before  him  and 
subjected  them  to  a  rigid  examination.  It  was 
reported  to  General  Wolcott  that  though  Johnson's 
words  "were  smoother  than  oil,  yet  they  were  very 
swords"  in  his  replies  to  the  questions  of  his  exam 
iners,  as  may  well  be  imagined  in  view  of  his 
diplomatic  experiences  of  ten  years  before  in  London.1 
On  receiving  Colonel  Dimon's  report  of  the 
examination,  General  Wolcott  ordered  that  Doctor 
Johnson  be  sent  "under  guard  or  otherwise"  to 
the  town  of  Farmington,  to  be  delivered  "to  the 
care  and  custody  of  the  civil  authority  of  that 
town"  to  be  kept  "under  such  proper  restraints  as 
to  prevent  his  having  any  correspondence  with  the 
enemy."  Johnson  was  thus,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  made  a  prisoner.  He  was,  however, 
allowed  to  proceed  to  Farmington  without  a  guard, 
on  giving  his  word  of  honor  that  he  would  at  once 
give  himself  up  to  the  selectmen.  On  his  arrival, 
these  authorities  found,  on  consultation  among 
themselves,  that  they  had  no  reason  for  detaining 
him.  Johnson,  though  agreeing  with  them,  proposed 
that  he  should  be  allowed  to  proceed  under  parole 
to  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Safety  and,  after 
stating  his  case,  abide  by  their  decision.  Thus, 
probably  for  the  first  time  in  the  four  years  of  the 
war,  Governor  Trumbull  met  and  doubtless  enter 
tained  his  old  friend  and  correspondent,  Doctor 
Johnson,  under  circumstances  very  different  from 

1  See  Wolcott  papers  in  Connecticut  Historical  Society's  manuscript  col 
lections. 


254  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

those  under  which  he  had  been  accustomed  to  meet 
and  correspond  with  him.  Knowing  Johnson's  char 
acter  as  he  did,  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  placed 
implicit  confidence  in  his  statement,  and  regarded 
him  in  the  same  friendly  light  as  in  former  times. 

The  meeting  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  by  a  bare 
majority,  failed  to  agree  with  the  legislative  Council 
which  voted  to  release  Johnson.  On  the  following  day, 
July  twenty-ninth,  the  Council  of  Safety  met  again. 
The  Governor  laid  before  the  Council  the  papers 
in  the  case,  Doctor  Johnson  appeared  and  was 
granted  a  hearing,  and  was  at  last  allowed  to  re 
turn  to  his  home  at  Stratford,  with  a  letter  to  the 
civil  authorities  written  by  the  Governor,  stating 
that  he  was  allowed  to  return  by  and  with  the  advice 
of  the  Legislative  Council  and  the  Council  of  Safety. 

From  this  time  forward  Doctor  Johnson  remained 
peacefully  at  his  home  in  Stratford,  carrying  on  his 
favorite  literary  pursuits  until  called  upon  to  act 
as  counsel  for  Connecticut  in  the  Susquehanna  case 
in  1782.  In  the  critical  times  which  followed,  his 
native  State  could  not  dispense  with  his  services, 
and  his  record  as  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1787  completes  his  long  and  honor 
able  service  to  Connecticut  in  a  way  which  honors 
his  name. 

The  financial  condition  of  the  country  continued, 
in  the  year  1779,  to  grow  from  bad  to  worse.  In 
May  the  Continental  Congress  called  upon  the 
thirteen  States  to  contribute  the  sum  of  forty- 
five  million  dollars  to  the  general  war  fund.  The 
amount  apportioned  to  Connecticut  was  $5,100,000 


FINANCIAL  AFFAIRS  255 

while  Massachusetts  had  but  $6,000,000  as  her 
share.  During  the  entire  year,  it  is  stated  that 
Congress  called  on  Connecticut  for  the  sum  of 
$8, 500,000. 1  It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  exact 
amount  which  the  State  paid  under  these  calls; 
but  we  have  it  on  the  official  statement  of  Governor 
Trumbull  that  during  the  year  1779  "this  State 
raised  nine  millions  eight  hundred  &  sixteen  thou 
sand  and  fifty-six  &  one  third  dollars  for  Co/i- 
tinental  and  State  purposes." 2  Taxes  were  laid 
at  the  May  session  of  the  General  Assembly  to  the 
extent  of  nineteen  shillings  to  the  pound,  payable 
at  three  fixed  dates.  And  owing  to  the  rapid  de 
crease  in  the  value  of  paper  money,  higher  rates 
were  yet  in  prospect.  To  Trumbull,  as  to  other 
statesmen  of  the  day,  the  urgent  need  of  a  foreign 
loan  was  apparent.  But  the  difficulty  in  negotiat 
ing  a  loan  from  a  foreign  country  with  no  security 
but  the  justice  of  our  cause  and  the  good  faith  of 
the  people  was  a  serious  difficulty  indeed.  Of  all 
foreign  nations  Holland  appeared  the  most  eligible 
for  this  purpose,  for  reasons  which  need  hardly  be 
discussed  here. 

And  of  all  the  good  friends  of  America  in  that 
resourceful  little  country,  John  Derk,  Baron  Van 
der  Capellan,  appeared  best  suited  to  advance  her 
interest  in  Holland.  His  views  in  home  politics 
were  so  liberal  as  to  exclude  him  for  four  years 
from  his  seat  in  the  Assembly,  owing  to  his  advocacy 

1  Stuart.    "Life  of  Trumbull",  p.  452. 

2  Letter  to  Samuel  Huntington,  in  Massachusetts    Historical  Society  Col 
lections,  yth  series,  vol.  3,  p.  62. 


256  JON Ar HAN   T RUM  BULL 

of  the  rights  of  the  people  of  Holland,  and  his  at 
tempts  to  relieve  them  from  feudal  oppression. 
This  nobleman  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Governor 
Trumbull's,  and  the  correspondence  between  them 
had  for  some  time  been  frequent.  Among  other 
suggestions,  the  good  Baron  had  requested  that  the 
Governor  should  prepare  and  send  to  him,  "a 
description  of  the  present  state  and  advantages  oi 
America ;  of  the  forms  of  government  in  its  different 
republics;  of  the  facility  with  which  strangers  can 
establish  themselves,  and  find  subsistence;  of  the 
price  of  lands  both  cultivated  and  unimproved;  ol 
cattle,  provisions,  etc.;  with  a  succinct  history  oi 
the  present  war,  and  the  cruelties  committed  by  the 
English.  This,"  says  the  Baron,  "would  excite 
astonishment  in  a  country  where  America  is  knowr 
but  through  the  medium  of  gazettes." 

Notwithstanding  the  constant  and  engrossing 
cares  which  his  official  duties  imposed  upon  th( 
Governor,  he  at  once  undertook  the  task  of  drawing 
up  such  a  statement  as  the  Baron  Van  der  Capellar 
had  suggested;  and  within  a  month  had  preparec 
a  letter  which  a  century  and  more  later  filled  thirt} 
large  octavo  pages  in  the  printed  Collections  o: 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  This  docu 
ment  was  duly  forwarded  to  the  Baron  Van  dei 
Capellan  by  the  Governor's  good  friend,  Presidem 
Henry  Laurens.  It  was  in  due  time  received  ir 
Holland,  and  its  contents  carefully  made  known  t( 
the  Baron's  most  influential  acquaintances,  result 
ing  in  liberal  subscriptions  by  himself,  his  kinsmer 
and  others  to  a  loan  to  the  United  States  of  America 


LITERARY  PLANS  257 

In  this  connection,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Governor  Trumbull  had  in  mind  at  about  this  time 
a  plan  for  writing  a  history  of  the  American  Revolu 
tion,  which  for  some  reason  he  never  carried  to 
completion.  Perhaps  he  contented  himself  at  this 
advanced  period  of  his  life  with  leaving  the  work 
to  be  embodied  in  the  more  extended  plan  of  a 
"General  History  of  the  United  States  of  America" 
which  his  cousin,  the  Reverend  Benjamin  Trumbull, 
undertook  to  write  at  a  later  date,  but  which  he 
did  not  live  long  enough  to  complete.  In  this  under 
taking  Governor  Trumbull  urged  his  cousin  to 
cover  the  entire  period  from  the  discovery  of  America 
to  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  But  one  volume  of 
the  three  contemplated  in  this  plan  ever  reached 
the  printer.  In  view  of  the  success  attending  the 
Governor's  correspondence  with  the  Baron  Van  der 
Capellan,  he  was  doubtless  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  acquainting  distinguished  foreigners 
with  the  true  state  of  affairs  in  America.  Probably 
with  that  motive  he  loaned  to  the  Chevalier  Anne- 
Cesar  de  la  Luzerne,  minister  from  France  to  the 
United  States,  a  manuscript  which  the  Chevalier 
calls  in  his  correspondence  "a  plan  of  the  history  of 
America."  It  appears,  however,  from  mention 
made  of  this  manuscript  by  the  Marquis  Francois 
Jean  de  Chastellux  in  his  "Voyages  dans  1'Amerique 
septentrionale",  quoting  the  Governor's  own  men 
tion  of  it,  that  it  was  only  the  introduction  to  a 
history  of  the  American  Revolution,  —  "only  a 
historical  resume,  quite  superficial,  and  not  lacking 
in  partiality  in  the  manner  in  which  the  events  of 


258  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  war  are  represented."  It  is  not  surprising  that 
to  this  criticism  of  the  Governor's  historical  writings 
this  nobleman  of  the  gay  court  of  Louis  XVI.  should 
have  added  the  following  personal  description: 

"He  is  over  seventy  years  old,  his  entire  life  is 
devoted  to  affairs,  which  he  loves  with  a  passion, 
whether  they  be  great  or  small;  or,  rather,  there 
are  none  for  him  of  this  latter  class." 

Although  the  military  operations  of  importance 
were  now  confined  to  the  southern  States,  there 
were  calls  upon  Connecticut  to  fill  her  quota  of 
men,  and  active  measures  were  taken  to  comply  with 
these  calls  and  to  keep  up  the  coast  guard  and  local 
militia  which  might  be  needed  at  any  time  to  defend 
the  State  from  such  invasions  as  she  had  suffered 
from  during  the  year. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

DISTRESSING  CONDITIONS  OF  THE  COUNTRY FINAN 
CIAL  AFFAIRS  AND  MEASURES  —  CALLS  ON  CONNEC 
TICUT  —  DEATH  OF  THE  GOVERNOR'S  WIFE  —  FRENCH 
HUSSARS  QUARTERED  AT  LEBANON  AND  COLCHESTER  - 

GOVERNOR  APPOINTED  TO  SUPERVISE  STATE  FINANCES 

y 

DURING  the  year  1779  the  calls  on  Con 
necticut  for  money  and  provisions  for  the 
Continental  Army  had  been  most  urgent. 
Rhode  Island,  too,  owing  to  the  presence  of  an  army 
within  her  narrow  confines,  had  been  reduced  to  the 
verge  of  famine,  and  much  relief  had  been  given  her 
by  her  more  fortunate  neighbor.  But  the  greater  and 
carefully  husbanded  resources  of  Connecticut  felt 
the  strain,  so  that  the  most  active  measures  of 
embargo  and  prevention  of  illicit  trade  were  put 
in  force.  In  money  matters  the  State  had  found  a 
slight,  but  temporary  relief  from  the  proceeds  of 
prize  vessels  and  cargoes  brought  in  by  State  pri 
vateers  and  other  war  vessels;  but  this  relief  was 
only  a  drop  in  an  empty  bucket. 

Early  in  1780,  distressing  letters  began  to  come 
from  General  Washington  telling  of  a  starving 
army  on  the  verge  of  mutiny  for  lack  of  food  and 
pay.  Governor  Trumbull  found  a  new  difficulty 
to  contend  with  in  his  earnest  attempts  to  afford 
relief.  The  farmers  who  had  been  selling  cattle  and 
provisions  to  the  United  States  under  contracts 

259 


26o  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

with  its  commissaries  had  not  received  any  pay 
ments  for  a  year  or  more ;  and  if  they  should  receive 
the  amounts  now  due  them  the  value  of  the  money 
would  be  less  than  half  the  sums  their  contracts 
called  for,  owing  to  the  rapidly  declining  rates  for 
continental  bills.  For  this  reason,  the  large  dealers 
upon  whom  the  commissaries  depended  were  un 
able  to  replenish  their  stocks  by  purchases  from  the 
smaller  farms,  and  were  unwilling  to  run  the  risk 
of  such  delays  in  payment  as  they  had  already  ex 
perienced.  This  situation  was  explained  to  Wash 
ington  by  Trumbull  as  fully  and  clearly  as  possible, 
with  the  added  assurance  that  "whatever  is  in  the 
power  of  this  small  State  to  effect  for  the  salvation 
of  the  country  will  be  executed  with  earnest  pleasure." 

And  now  begins  an  urgent  correspondence  of  the 
Governor  with  the  Connecticut  delegates  to  Con 
gress  and  with  President  Samuel  Huntington,  urg 
ing  that  measures  be  taken  to  pay  the  amounts  due 
under  commissaries'  contracts,  and  suggesting  to 
the  delegates  measures  for  "introducing  a  stable 
currency  and  medium  of  commerce",  on  the  sound 
basis  of  contributions  by  taxation  from  the  different 
States.  The  delays  in  the  action  of  Congress  in  the 
important  measures  of  supplying  the  army  also 
bring  out  something  more  than  suggestions  from 
the  Governor  to  the  delegates  and  President.  There 
was,  no  doubt,  a  complete  agreement  of  opinion 
on  the  part  of  Trumbull  with  Washington  when, 
at  a  later  date,  the  latter  wrote  him: 

"As  I  always  speak  to  your  Excellency  in  the 
confidence  of  friendship,  I  shall  not  scruple  to  con- 


FINANCIAL  MEASURES  261 

fess  that  the  prevailing  politics,  for  considerable 
time  past,  have  rilled  me  with  inexpressible  anxiety 
and  apprehension,  and  have  uniformly  appeared 
to  me  to  threaten  the  subversion  of  our  indepen 
dence.  I  hope  a  period  to  them  is  now  arrived, 
and  that  a  change  of  measures  will  save  us  from 


ruin." 


It  seems  safe  to  say  that  a  more  formidable 
enemy  than  the  British  army  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1780  was  the  continental  paper  money, 
which  during  the  previous  year  had  been  issued  to 
the  extent  of  nearly  $i5o,ooo,ooo,2  and  was  now  so 
rapidly  declining  in  purchasing  power  that  Washing 
ton's  statement  was  hardly  an  exaggeration  when 
he  said  that  a  cartload  of  money  was  needed  to  buy 
a  cartload  of  provisions.  His  statement  that  the 
financial  condition  of  the  country  was  "the  only 
hope,  the  last  resource  of  the  enemy"  need  hardly 
be  questioned  here,  though  the  financial  condition 
of  Great  Britain  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  matter 
of  grave  concern  to  her  statesmen. 

To  meet  the  alarming  crisis,  the  Continental 
Congress  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  a  contraction 
of  the  currency  by  calling  in  and  destroying  the 
old  issues,  and  by  issuing  new  bills  for  one  twentieth 
of  the  amount  destroyed,  these  new  bills  having 
six  years  to  run,  and  being  payable,  with  interest 
at  five  per  cent.,  in  specie.  To  accomplish  this 
measure,  it  became  necessary  to  call  upon  the 

1  Washington  to  Trumbull,  June  27,  1780.    In  Collections  of  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  vol.  10,  5th  series. 

2  $140,05  2,480.    Bronson,  "Connecticut  Currency",  p.  114. 


262  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

States  for  contributions  of  fifteen  million  dollars 
monthly  in  old  Continental  money  for  thirteen 
months.  The  measure  was,  to  some  extent,  in  ac 
cordance  with  Governor  Trumbuirs  views,  and  he 
promptly  laid  the  matter  before  the  General  As 
sembly  at  its  April  session.  The  delegates  in  Con 
gress  had  written  him,  both  officially  and  personally, 
urging  that  legislation  be  promptly  had  by  Con 
necticut  to  carry  out  this  measure.  Appreciating, 
no  doubt,  the  importance  of  relief  by  any  measure 
on  which  Congress  could  agree,  and  fully  informed 
by  the  Governor  of  the  situation  as  stated  by 
the  Connecticut  delegates,  the  General  Assembly 
promptly  passed  "An  Act  for  the  Establishment 
of  Public  Credit,  and  to  Provide  for  the  Exigencies 
of  this  State",  which  provided  unequivocally  for 
meeting  the  requirements  of  Congress.  So  en 
couraging  was  the  example  of  Connecticut  in  this 
time  of  gloom  and  despondency  that  Oliver  Ells 
worth  writes  to  the  Governor,  under  date  of  May 
ninth : 

"I  thought  it  my  duty  to  read  in  Congress  the 
accounts  I  had  received  from  Connecticut,  &  was 
kept  in  countenance  by  their  just  approbation." 

A  month  later  he  writes  reporting  encouraging 
progress  by  various  States  in  adopting  measures 
similar  to  those  of  Connecticut.  It  is  hardly  neces 
sary  to  add  that  Connecticut  provided  for  her 
share  in  this  new  measure  by  laying  taxes,  as  usual 
in  such  cases. 

The  exigencies  of  the  times  were  such  the  Con 
gress  thought  it  necessary  to  call  upon  the  States 


DRASriC  MEASURES  263 

for  provisions  at  fixed  values  in  addition  to  the 
money  called  for.  The  share  of  Connecticut  in 
this  call  was  78,400  hundredweight  of  beef,  ion 
bushels  of  salt,  68,558  gallons  of  rum,  and  500  tons 
of  hay.  Measures  were  duly  enacted  to  supply 
these  provisions.  The  share  of  the  State  in  the 
money  called  for  was  $1,700,000,  monthly  in  con 
tinental  money,  or  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  in  specie 
to  forty  dollars  of  continental  money.  Thfs  was 
one  ninth  of  the  whole  amount  called  for  by  Con 
gress,  —  a  large  proportion  for  a  small  State.  The 
payment  of  this  amount  entitled  the  State  to  issue 
bills  to  the  extent  of  one  twentieth  of  the  continental 
money  contributed,  which  bills  were  to  be  guaran 
teed  by  the  United  States,  and  were  payable,  with 
interest  at  five  per  cent,  at  the  expiration  of  six 
years,  in  Spanish  milled  dollars.  So  slow,  however, 
were  the  officials  in  the  mechanical  part  of  this 
undertaking  that  Connecticut  could  not  wait  for 
the  guarantee  of  the  United  States,  and  issued  bills 
of  a  similar  kind  on  the  sole  credit  of  the  State, 
leaving  the  new  continental  guarantee  for  future 
adjustment.  Thus,  for  the  first  time  since  1776, 
and  for  the  last  time  during  the  war,  was  paper 
money  issued  by  the  State,  and  provided  for,  as 
usual,  by  taxation. 

In  this  time  of  stress,  news  comes  to  the  Governor 
by  a  letter  from  the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  which 
is  in  one  way  joyous  news  and  in  another  way 
grievous.  On  the  seventeenth  of  May,  the  Chevalier 
writes  to  the  Governor  that  a  fleet  is  nearly  due 
from  France,  bringing  a  large  body  of  French  troops 


264  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

to  reinforce  the  Americans  and  that  Connecticut  is  ex 
pected  to  furnish  fresh  provisions  for  them.  The  terms 
of  purchase,  however,  form  a  pleasing  contrast  to 
the  custom  of  delayed  payments  which  the  United 
States  had  established;  for  the  agent  for  France 
comes  furnished  with  good  bills  of  exchange  to  the 
extent  of  about  $16,000,  and  with  authority  to 
provide  cash  payment  or  bills  of  exchange  for  any 
balance  which  this  first  installment  does  not  cover. 
At  the  same  time  comes  a  letter  from  Washington, 
urging  the  Governor  to  prompt  compliance  with 
this  request,  so  that  our  allies  may  find  on  arrival 
that  every  exertion  has  been  made  to  meet  their 
needs.  One  thousand  oxen  and  twelve  hundred 
sheep  form  the  first  requisition  for  the  allies,  in 
addition  to  which  three  hundred  good  horses  are 
also  wanted.  These  animals  were  collected  as  fast 
as  possible,  and  held  in  pasture  near  the  coast, 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  French  troops  from 
Newport,  on  their  way  through  Connecticut. 

Although  this  comparatively  small  purchase  was 
made  on  a  cash  basis,  it  was  found  necessary,  in 
the  following  July,  to  lend  to  the  French  commis 
sioner,  Louis  Dominique  Ethis  de  Corny,  the  sum  of 
£20,000  in  the  new  bills  of  Connecticut,  to  be  re 
placed  on  the  arrival  of  funds  from  France,  which 
subsequently  proved  to  be  very  slow  in  coming. 

In  addition  to  this  new  call  on  the  State  for 
money  and  provisions,  demands  of  all  kinds  from 
all  quarters  are  constantly  pressing  upon  the  Gov 
ernor.  Even  transportation  for  such  supplies  as 
Quartermaster-general  Greene  has  ready  to  send 


HEAVY  REQUISITIONS  265 

to  the  front  cannot  be  had  for  lack  of  money  and 
lack  of  credit;  and  the  Governor  is  earnestly  ap 
pealed  to  by  General  Greene  to  furnish  money  for 
this  purpose,  with  which  request  he  complies,  at 
a  cost  of  £1020.  A  month  later,  and  Washington, 
expecting  an  attack  on  West  Point,  urges  for  a 
supply  of  salted  provisions  and  live  cattle  to  be 
immediately  sent  forward  to  that  important  strong 
hold,  to  provide  against  a  siege.  Within  a  Week 
from  the  receipt  of  this  letter  the  provisions  are  on 
the  way.  A  week  later  two  thousand  men  are 
drafted  from  the  militia  of  Connecticut,  and  ordered 
forward  as  a  reinforcement  for  West  Point,  at 
Washington's  request. 

Added  to  this  particular  and  promptly  rendered 
service  come  calls  from  Baron  Steuben  for  arms, 
and  from  other  quarters  for  ammunition  and  cloth 
ing.  And  throughout  all  this  time  of  strain  and 
anxiety,  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Safety  were 
continually  confronted  with  the  fact  that  enlist 
ments  were  more  difficult  than  ever  before,  not 
withstanding  bounties  which  seemed  princely  to  the 
plain  farmers  and  others. 

The  war  had  now  been  actively  waged  for  five 
years.  Discouraging  news  was  coming  from  the 
south;  Charleston  had  fallen,  and  it  was  supposed 
by  Washington  that  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  flushed  with 
victory,  would  soon  appear  before  West  Point,  as 
good  generalship  would  lead  him  to  do.  Fortunately, 
he  did  not  seize  this  golden  opportunity,  and  later 
even  the  treachery  of  Arnold  failed  to  place  this 
important  stronghold  in  his  grasp.  But  with  the 


266  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

continual  disasters  in  the  southern  campaign,  re 
sulting  from  the  utter  inefficiency  of  Gates,  who  had 
been  placed  in  command  by  Congress,  the  gloom 
continued;  and  with  the  blockading  of  the  French 
allies  at  Newport  soon  after  their  arrival,  and  of  the 
second  installment  at  Brest  before  leaving  France, 
the  aid  from  that  powerful  ally  was,  for  the  time 
being,  neutralized,  and  the  apathy  of  despair  seemed 
to  settle  upon  the  people. 

But  in  the  time  when  everything  seemed  darkest, 
no  tinge  of  despair  is  to  be  found  in  Governor  Trum- 
bulFs  letters  to  Washington  and  others.  On  the 
contrary,  these  letters  breathe  the  utmost  hope 
fulness,  telling  of  good  stores  of  supplies  to  be  drawn 
from  the  old  Provision  State,  and  of  the  belief  that 
its  quota  of  men  for  the  army  will  soon  be  com 
pleted;  and  reiterating  the  abiding  religious  faith 
which  sustains  him  in  every  time  of  need.  At  the 
same  time,  no  details  of  useful  expedients  for  carry 
ing  on  the  good  fight  are  disregarded,  and  he  sug 
gests  concerted  and  systematic  action  by  the  New 
England  States  in  forwarding  supplies.  These  meas 
ures  formed  the  principal  business  of  the  Boston 
convention  of  August,  1780,  and  the  Hartford  con 
vention  of  the  November  following. 

In  the  midst  of  the  harassing  and  perplexing 
cares  of  this  year,  a  sad  bereavement  was  added  to 
the  gloom  of  political  and  military  affairs.  On 
May  29,  1780,  the  Governor's  wife,  Faith,  died. 
Thus  was  severed  a  marriage  tie  of  forty-five  years, 
during  which  time  he  had  enjoyed  the  love  and 
sympathy  of  this  devoted  wife.  Her  health  had 


DEATH  OF  MRS.    TRUMBULL         267 

been  feeble  for  some  years.  Two  years  and  more 
before  her  death,  we  find  her  son  Jonathan  Junior 
writing  to  his  father  at  Hartford: 

"24th  Feb.  1778.  .  .  .  My  mother  has  been 
exceeding  lame,  occasioned  I  suppose  by  cold, 
could  scarcely  move  yesterday;  is  somewhat  better." 

Although  apparently  for  some  years  an  invalid, 
it  is  to  be  believed  from  all  we  can  learn  of  her  firm 
and  devoted  character  that  she  bore  up  bravely 
under  her  sufferings,  and  never  lost  sight  of  her 
duties  as  wife  and  mother.  A  sketch  of  her  parent 
age  and  ancestry,  with  some  mention  of  her  personal 
character,  has  been  given  in  an  early  chapter  of  this 
biography.  To  Washington  and  to  Gates,  Trum- 
bull  wrote  conveying  the  sad  news  of  his  loss,  and 
from  Washington  he  received  the  following  con 
dolence  in  prompt  response : 

"I  most  sincerely  condole  with  your  Excellency 
on  the  late  severe  stroke  which  you  have  met  with 
in  your  family.  Although  calamities  of  this  kind 
are  what  we  should  all  be  prepared  to  expect,  yet 
few,  upon  their  arrival,  are  able  to  bear  them  with 
becoming  fortitude.  Your  determination,  however, 
to  seek  assistance  from  the  Great  Disposer  of  all 
human  events  is  highly  laudable,  and  is  the  source 
from  whence  the  truest  consolation  is  to  be  drawn. 

"  I  am,  with  greatest  affection,  respect  and  esteem, 
Dear  sir, 

"Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant, 

"G*  Washington." 

Many  tributes  were  paid  in  the  public  press  and 


268  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

elsewhere  to  her  patriotism,  benevolence,  and  Chris 
tian  virtues. 

On  the  stone  marking  her  burial  place  in  the 
family  tomb  at  Lebanon,  the  following  inscription 
may  still  be  read: 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Madam  Faith  Trum- 
bull,  the  amiable  lady  of  Gov.  Trumbull.  Born  at 
Duxbury,  Mass.,  A.D.  1718.  Happy  and  beloved 
in  her  connubial  state,  she  lived  a  virtuous,  charita 
ble  and  Christian  life  at  Lebanon,  in  Connecticut, 
and  died  lamented  by  numerous  friends,  A.D.  1780, 
aged  62  years." 

Towards  the  close  of  this  gloomy  year  it  was 
found  necessary  to  call  upon  Connecticut  for  winter 
quarters  for  the  French  hussars  of  Lauzun's  legion, 
since  the  exorbitant  prices  of  forage  and  other 
supplies  at  Newport  made  this  step  necessary. 
Quarters  were  provided  at  Lebanon  and  Colchester, 
and  the  Governor's  son  David,  with  Jeremiah  Wads- 
worth  and  Jedediah  Elderkin,  were  appointed  to 
provide  barracks  for  these  troops.  The  feelings 
of  the  gay  Due  de  Lauzun  on  changing  from  the 
congenial  surroundings  of  Newport  to  the  strange 
surroundings  of  Lebanon  are  described,  with  all  the 
extravagance  of  a  Frenchman  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Duke  himself.  He 
says: 

"I  left  for  Lebanon  on  the  loth  of  November. 
We  had  not  yet  had  letters  from  France.  Siberia 
alone  can  be  compared  to  Lebanon,  which  is  only 
composed  of  cabins  scattered  through  immense 
forests." 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CONNECTICUT      269 

The  presence  of  these  French  troops  at  Lebanon 
was  no  doubt  a  matter  of  great  social  importance 
to  that  little  town,  and  has  been  so  gracefully  and 
impressively  mentioned  by  Donald  G.  Mitchell, 
that  a  quotation  from  him  will  best  describe  the 
scene  and  the  men  : 

"And  what  a  contrast  it  is,  this  gay  young  noble 
man,  carved  out,  as  it  were,  from  the  dissolute  age 
of  Louis  XV.,  who  had  sauntered  under  the  ^colon 
nades  of  the  Trianon,  and  had  kissed  the  hand  of  the 
Pompadour,  now  strutting  among  the  staid  dames 
of  Norwich  and  Lebanon!  How  they  must  have 
looked  at  him  and  his  fine  troopers  from  under  their 
knitted  hoods!  You  know,  I  suppose,  his  after 
history;  how  he  went  back  to  Paris,  and  among  the 
wits  there  was  wont  to  mimic  the  way  in  which  the 
stiff  old  Connecticut  Governor  had  said  grace  at 
his  table.  Ah,  he  did  not  know  that  in  Governor 
Trumbull,  and  in  all  such  men,  is  the  material  to 
found  an  enduring  State;  and  in  himself,  and  all 
such  men,  only  the  inflammable  material  to  burn  one 
down.  There  is  a  life  written  of  Governor  Trum 
bull,  and  there  is  a  life  written  of  the  Marquis  of 
Lauzun.  The  first  is  full  of  deeds  of  quiet  heroism, 
ending  with  a  tranquil  and  triumphant  death;  the 
other  is  full  of  rankest  gallantries,  and  ends  with  a 
little  spurt  of  blood  under  the  knife  of  the  guillo 
tine  upon  the  gay  Place  de  la  Concorde."  1 

Governor  TrumbuH's  acquaintance  with  distin 
guished  Frenchmen  did  not  begin  at  Lebanon  on 

Address  at  the  bi-centennial  celebration  of  the  settlement  of  Norwich, 
Connecticut. 


270  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

the  arrival  of  the  Due  de  Lauzun;  for  in  the  pre 
vious  September  he  had  met  Count  Rochambeau, 
Admiral  Ternay  and  Lafayette  at  Hartford,  in  the 
first  conference  which  they  held  with  Washington, 
Knox  and  others.  Their  reception  at  Hartford  was 
a  brilliant  affair  for  these  stringent  times,  though 
Quartermaster  Nehemiah  Hubbard  was  obliged  to 
apply  to  the  Governor  for  funds  to  meet  the  ex 
penses  of  the  entertainment,  which  amounted  to 
£345,  a  sum  which  the  Council  of  Safety  readily 
granted,  to  meet  the  requisition  which  the  Governor 
had  issued.  The  conference  at  Hartford  had  no 
particular  effect  upon  the  military  campaign  at  this 
time,  although  it  gave  an  opportunity  for  an  ex 
change  of  views  between  the  military  leaders,  in 
which,  no  doubt,  Governor  Trumbull  contributed 
valuable  information  and  advice. 

An  important  duty  entrusted  to  the  Governor 
by  the  General  Assembly  towards  the  close  of  this 
year  1780  was  the  supervision  of  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  State.  In  order  to  show  what  was 
expected  of  him,  it  seems  necessary  to  quote  the 
resolution  adopted  regarding  this  matter  at  the 
session  of  November  2Qth : 

"Resolved:  That  his  Excellency  the  Governor 
be,  and  he  is  hereby  empowered  and  requested  to 
superintend  the  subject  of  finance  in  this  State 
until  the  sessions  of  the  Assembly  in  May  next; 
to  examine  into  the  state  of  the  public  debts  and 
credits,  to  make  the  proper  estimates  of  the  amount 
of  public  expenditures  made  and  wanted,  and  of  the 
ways  and  means  already  provided,  and  what  will  be 


SUPERVISES  STATE  FINANCES     271 

raised  by  the  same,  and  to  superintend  and  direct 
the  treasury,  that  effectual  measures  may  be  forth 
with  taken,  that  all  arrearages  of  public  taxes 
from  the  respective  towns  be  forthwith  paid  up  and 
settled;  also  to  superintend  the  Pay  Table,  and 
find  out  the  true  state  of  the  public  accounts  therein, 
so  that  a  true  state  of  the  public  finances  may  be 
fairly,  truly  and  plainly  laid  before  the  Assembly  at 
said  sessions." 

In  addition  to  this  he  was  also  empowered  to 
employ  assistants,  and  to  negotiate  a  loan  on  the 
credit  of  the  State  in  Europe  or  America,  not  ex 
ceeding  £200,000,  for  seven  to  twenty  years  at 
six  per  cent,  interest. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

CONTINUED   GLOOM  —  IMPRISONMENT   OF   COLONEL 

JOHN   TRUMBULL HIS   RELEASE   AND   RETURN  

CONTINUED  CALLS  FOR  PROVISIONS  FOR  THE  ARMY 

THE  WETHERSFIELD  CONFERENCE THE  GOVERNOR 

AND  COUNCIL  GO  TO  DANBURY THE  YORKTOWN 

CAMPAIGN -- THE   GROTON   MASSACRE THE   SUR 
RENDER  OF  CORNWALLIS 

IF  the  dark  days  of  1776  and  1777  were  the 
"times  that  tried  men's  souls",  the  days  of 
1780  were  no  less  dark,  after  four  years  more 
of  the  stress  and  strain  of  war,  during  a  series  of 
reverses  and  defeats  under  the  miserably  incom 
petent  management  of  Gates  at  the  south,  where  the 
only  active  military  campaign  of  the  year  was  in 
progress.  Arnold's  treason  had  added  to  the  gloom 
of  the  year,  and  only  an  abiding  faith  in  the  right 
eousness  of  his  country's  cause  sustained  the  vener 
able  Governor  of  Connecticut  in  these  dark  days, 
through  which  he  constantly  toiled  and  hoped  and 
prayed  as  ever. 

The  year  1781  opened  in  the  thickest  gloom. 
A  starving  army,  ill-clad  and  unpaid,  began  the 
year  with  mutiny.  Two  Pennsylvania  regiments 
left  camp  in  January  to  demand  from  Congress  a 
redress  of  their  wrongs.  The  affair  resulted  in  the 
killing  of  two  of  their  officers  who  attempted  to 
control  them,  and  in  rioting  and  bloodshed.  How 

272 


ARREST  OF  JOHN   TRUMBULL        273 

far  the  mutiny  might  extend  among  other  troops 
was  a  serious  question.  Never  before  had  such 
urgently  repeated  calls  come  from  Washington  to 
Governor  Trumbull  for  money  to  pay  the  soldiers; 
for  food  and  for  clothing.  These  urgent  calls  were 
continued  almost  incessantly  for  the  first  six  months 
of  the  year,  and  longer.  General  Knox  was  sent 
by  Washington  to  New  England  in  January^and 
visited  Governor  Trumbull  and  his  Council  in 
person,  explaining  to  them  more  effectively  than 
even  the  letters  of  Washington  could  explain  the 
dire  need  of  provisions  and  supplies  of  all  kinds. 

While  this  most  alarming  situation  was  calling 
for  the  utmost  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  Governor, 
and  was  causing  him  the  greatest  anxiety  and  per 
plexity,  a  personal  anxiety  was  also  constantly 
staring  him  in  the  face.  In  November,  1780,  his 
son  John,  while  pursuing  his  art  studies  in  London, 
was  arrested  and  imprisoned  under  charge  of  "the 
crime  of  high  treason."  He  had  been  assured  of 
protection  against  such  procedure  by  Lord  George 
Germaine;  the  sole  precaution  being  that  he  must 
shun  the  smallest  indiscretion,  and  avoid  "political 
intervention."  But  on  November  15,  1780,  the 
news  of  the  execution  of  Andre  had  reached  London ; 
and  owing  to  Colonel  Trumbull's  previous  rank  of 
Deputy  Adjutant  General  in  the  American  army, 
it  seemed,  as  he  says  in  his  autobiography,  that  he 
would  "make  a  perfect  pendant",  Andre  having 
been  Deputy  Adjutant  General  in  the  British  army. 
The  arrest  was  made  at  the  instigation  of  Benjamin 
Thompson,  afterwards  Count  Rumford. 


274  JONArHAN   TRUMBULL 

The  news  of  this  arrest  probably  reached  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull  in  the  following  January,  1781. 
Although  the  proceeding  was  in  direct  violation 
of  the  proclamation  made  by  his  Majesty's  Com 
missioners  in  America  in  1778,  there  was  much  cause 
for  anxiety  as  well  as  indignation.  For  nearly 
seven  months  Colonel  Trumbull  was  imprisoned; 
and  it  was  only  after  repeated  efforts  on  the  part 
of  Benjamin  West,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Charles 
James  Fox,  Edmund  Burke,  and  others  of  equal 
or  greater  influence,  that  he  was  at  last  released. 
An  appeal  to  law  was  out  of  the  question,  owing  to 
the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act;  and  thus 
the  indignity  of  imprisonment  had  to  be  borne  for 
this  long  time  as  best  he  could  bear  it.  From  cer 
tain  indications  of  his  pride  and  force  of  character 
in  other  instances  we  may  well  imagine  that  he 
chafed  under  the  treatment,  though  he  continued 
to  pursue  his  studies  in  art  with  unabated  zeal. 
From  letters  of  Messrs.  John  de  Neufville  and 
Sons  of  Amsterdam,  his  father  seems  to  have  re 
ceived  the  fullest  particulars  regarding  his  im 
prisonment  and  the  prospects  of  his  release.  It 
was  not,  however,  an  unconditional  release  when  it 
came,  for  it  carried  with  it  the  condition  that  he 
should  depart  from  Great  Britain  within  thirty 
days,  and  should  not  return  until  peace  should  be 
declared.  Benjamin  West  and  John  Singleton  Copley 
became  his  sureties  in  a  bond  for  two  hundred 
pounds  for  carrying  out  this  condition.  He  was 
thus  enabled  to  go  at  once  to  Amsterdam,  where 
under  the  auspices  of  the  friendly  mercantile  house 


RETURN  OF  JOHN   TRUMBULL       275 

of  John  de  Neufville  and  Son  he  endeavored  to 
assist  his  father  in  negotiating  a  loan  of  £200,000 
for  the  State  of  Connecticut.  From  this  place  long 
letters  to  his  father  give  interesting  accounts  of 
the  political  situation  in  Holland,  and  show  quite 
plainly  that  the  time  was  unfavorable  for  effecting 
a  loan.  John  Adams  happened  to  be  in  Amster 
dam  at  the  time,  and  from  him  Colonel  Trumbull 
learned  that  he  had  met  with  no  success  in  rfego- 
tiating  a  loan  for  the  United  States,  and  believed 
it  useless  to  make  any  further  attempts  in  Holland. 
Following  his  example,  Colonel  Trumbull  gave  up 
the  attempt,  and  soon  embarked  for  his  native 
land,  which  he  reached  in  January,  1782,  after  a 
narrow  escape  from  shipwreck,  reimbarking  at 
Bilboa. 

Thus  the  Governor  had  the  disappointment  of 
learning  that  the  attempt  which  the  General  As 
sembly  had  authorized  him  to  make  for  a  foreign 
loan  of  £200,000  was  unsuccessful  and  impossible; 
and  that  the  injustice  done  to  his  son  had  seriously 
affected  the  young  man's  progress  in  the  pursuit 
of  his  chosen  profession.  A  severe  illness  followed 
after  his  arrival  at  his  home  in  Lebanon,  after  re 
covering  from  which  the  necessities  of  the  case 
obliged  him  to  join  his  brother  in  supervising  con 
tracts  for  the  commissary  department  of  the  army. 
After  peace  was  declared  he  again  took  up  his  life 
work  as  an  artist,  the  decision  being  reached  after 
a  consultation  with  his  father  which  he  describes 
as  follows: 

"My  father  again  urged  the  law,  as  a  profession 


276  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

which  in  a  republic  leads  to  all  emolument  and  dis 
tinction,  and  for  which  my  early  education  had 
well  prepared  me.  My  reply  was,  that  so  far  as  I 
understood  the  question,  law  was  rendered  neces 
sary  by  the  vices  of  mankind  — that  I  had  already 
seen  too  much  of  them,  willingly  to  devote  my  life 
to  a  profession  which  would  keep  me  perpetually 
involved,  either  in  the  defense  of  innocence  against 
fraud  and  injustice,  or  (what  was  much  more  revolt 
ing  to  an  ingenuous  mind)  to  the  protection  of 
guilt  against  just  and  merited  punishment.  In  short, 
I  pined  for  the  arts,  and  entered  into  an  elaborate 
defense  of  my  predilection,  and  again  dwelt  upon 
the  honors  paid  to  artists  in  the  glorious  days  of 
Greece  and  Athens.  My  father  listened  patiently, 
and  when  I  had  finished,  he  complimented  me  on 
the  able  manner  in  which  I  had  defended  what  to 
him  still  appeared  to  be  a  bad  cause.  'I  had  con 
firmed  his  opinion/  he  said,  that  with  proper  study 
I  should  make  a  respectable  lawyer;  'but/  added 
he,  'you  must  give  me  leave  to  say  that  you  appear 
to  have  overlooked,  or  forgotten,  one  important 
point  in  your  case/  'Pray  sir/  I  rejoined,  'what  was 
that?'  'You  appear  to  forget,  sir,  that  Connecticut 
is  not  Athens';  and  with  this  pithy  remark,  he 
bowed  and  withdrew,  and  never  more  opened  his 
lips  on  the  subject." 

Among  the  urgent  letters  sent  by  Washington 
during  the  first  half  of  the  year  1781  is  a  letter  of  the 
tenth  of  May  in  which  he  says : 

"From  the  post  of  Saratoga  to  that  of  Dobbs' 
Ferry  inclusive  I  believe  there  is  not  (by  the  returns 


WETHERSFIELD  CONFERENCE        277 

and  reports  made  to  me)  at  this  moment  one  day's 
supply  of  meat  for  the  army  on  hand.  .  .  . 

"I  have  now  only  to  repeat  the  alternative  which 
has  been  so  often  urged,  that  supplies,  particularly 
of  beef  cattle,  must  be  speedily  and  regularly  pro 
vided,  or  our  posts  cannot  be  maintained,  nor  the 
army  kept  in  the  field  much  longer." 

Two  weeks  after  this  alarming  letter  the  famous 
Wethersfield  conference  is  held.  The  plan  of  jcam- 
paign  agreed  upon  at  the  house  of  Joseph  Webb  in 
Wethersfield  makes  this  probably  the  most  im 
portant  conference  held  during  the  war.  It  appears 
to  have  been  entirely  a  military  conference,  in 
which  Washington  and  Rochambeau  were  respec 
tively  the  American  and  French  leaders,  conferring 
with  Generals  Knox  and  Duportail  and  the  Marquis 
de  Chastellux. 

Washington  at  once  writes  Trumbull,  telling  the 
result  of  this  conference,  which  was  at  the  time 
solely  a  plan  for  the  reduction  and  occupation  of 
New  York,  where  the  British  forces  were  then 
weakened  by  sending  much  needed  reinforcements 
to  the  south  to  retrieve,  if  possible,  the  losses  oc 
casioned  by  the  superb  generalship  of  Greene. 
Even  Washington,  conscious  as  he  was  of  Greene's 
military  genius,  could  not  foresee  the  far-reaching 
results  of  the  campaign  which  that  great  general 
was  so  brilliantly  and  successfully  conducting. 

The  plan  of  the  Wethersfield  conference  called 
urgently  for  men  from  Connecticut  to  be  in  the 
field  by  the  first  of  July,  in  order  to  cooperate  with 
the  French  troops  in  the  taking  of  New  York, 


278  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

before  the  possible  return  of  the  British  from  the 
south,  which  return  did  not  take  place,  since  Greene 
kept  them  actively  employed.  By  the  ninth  of 
July  we  find  Governor  Trumbull  at  Lebanon,  from 
which  place  he  writes  Washington : 

"...  I  intend  to  remain  at  home  till  the  troops 
are  forwarded  from  hence,  then  to  remove  to  Hart 
ford  to  promote  the  hastening  on  the  fresh  beef  and 
other  supplies;  and  should  it  appear  necessary  and 
expedient,  shall  remove  further  westward  with  an 
Executive  Council  about  me  to  promote  every 
thing  needful  that  is  in  our  power.  My  great  object 
is  to  forward  our  troops,  and  by  the  most  strenuous 
exertions  to  feed  the  army  that  they  be  not  reduced 
to  any  disagreeable  necessities/' 

In  order  to  be  nearer  to  the  scene  of  military 
operations,  and  to  expedite  the  payment  of  the 
soldiers,  Governor  Trumbull  in  the  following  month 
of  August  set  out  for  Danbury,  thus  carrying  out  a 
plan  already  suggested  by  Washington  of  holding 
the  meetings  of  his  Council  near  the  scene  of  action, 
and  encouraging  the  troops  by  his  presence,  and 
by  the  welcome  payment  of  a  portion,  at  least,  of 
their  much  needed  wages.  According  to  the  meager 
entries  in  the  Governor's  diary  at  this  time,  we 
learn  that  his  sojourn  at  Danbury  partook  of  the 
nature  of  a  military  encampment.  Guards  were 
set  at  night,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  threats  of  personal 
violence  to  the  Governor,  which  he  himself  records 
in  his  diary  in  the  following  words : 

"At  Newtown  one  said  he  would  kill  me  as  quick 
as  he  would  a  Rattle  Snake." 


SUCCESSES  IN   THE  SOUTH          279 

The  sudden  change  of  plan  in  military  opera 
tions  prevented  a  visit  of  the  Governor  to  Washing 
ton  at  headquarters,  in  acceptance  of  an  invitation 
from  the  latter  before  the  arrival  of  the  Gov 
ernor  and  his  Council  at  Danbury.  The  stay  at 
this  place  occupied  about  a  fortnight  in  the  month 
of  August,  during  which  time  the  plan  of  the  great 
and  glorious  Yorktown  campaign  developed.^  On 
the  twenty-second  of  August  a  circular  letter  was 
issued  by  Washington  disclosing  to  the  various 
governors  of  the  eastern  States  the  plan  of  campaign, 
and  urging  that  the  quotas  of  these  States  be  im 
mediately  filled  to  reinforce  General  Heath,  who 
had  been  left  in  command  of  the  forces  before  New 
York. 

The  gloom  with  which  the  year  opened  was  soon 
to  be  transformed  to  brilliancy  through  the  com 
bined  efforts  of  the  two  great  generals,  Washington 
and  Greene;  for  on  the  very  day  when  Washington 
was  issuing  the  circular  letter  just  referred  to, 
Greene  had  begun  the  march  which  resulted  in  the 
battle  of  Eutaw  Springs,  the  effect  of  which  was 
to  keep  the  British  cooped  up  in  Charleston  to  the 
end  of  the  war.  Long  before  this,  the  slow  means  of 
communication  had  brought  the  news  of  the  glorious 
victory  of  January  seventeenth  at  Cowpens,  of  March 
fifteenth  at  Guilford  Court  House,  and  of  the  evacua 
tion  of  Camden  by  the  British  on  the  tenth  of 
May.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  these  victories, 
important  as  they  were,  could  be  fully  appreciated 
in  distant  New  England  at  the  time.  Cheering 
though  the  news  may  have  been,  it  formed  only 


28o  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

a  slight  relief  to  the  gloom  in  which  New  England 
was  shrouded. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  August,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Yorktown  campaign  had  been  fully  planned, 
and  the  "old  continentals  in  their  ragged  regi 
mentals"  were  joining  with  the  gorgeously  uni 
formed  French  troops  in  the  swift  and  brilliant 
march  towards  Yorktown,  the  result  of  which  was 
to  end,  two  years  later,  the  long,  weary  struggle  of 
eight  years.  So  swift  and  so  boldly  and  brilliantly 
planned  was  this  movement  that  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
was  entirely  hoodwinked,  and  did  not  open  his  eyes 
to  the  situation  until  it  was  far  too  late  to  attempt  to 
intercept  Washington.  Racking  his  brains  to  plan 
a  counter-movement  of  some  kind,  he  decided  upon 
an  attack  on  the  Connecticut  coast,  though  even 
he  must  have  known  that  such  a  movement  could 
not  possibly  divert  Washington  from  the  plan  of  the 
Yorktown  campaign,  which  had  already  progressed 
farther  and  more  successfully  than  Clinton  himself 
was  aware  of  in  those  days  of  slow  communication. 

In  pursuance  of  his  plan,  Clinton  placed  under 
command  of  the  traitor  Arnold  an  expedition  des 
tined  for  New  London,  whose  spacious  harbor  was 
defended  by  a  small  battery  on  the  New  London 
side  known  as  Fort  Trumbull,  and  a  much  more 
formidable  fort  on  the  Groton  side  known  as  Fort 
Griswold.  The  garrison  of  the  New  London  battery, 
consisting  of  twenty-three  men,  after  firing  a  broad 
side  at  Arnold's  forces,  spiked  their  guns,  and  re 
treated  in  boats  across  the  harbor  to  reinforce  the 
small  garrison  of  Fort  Griswold.  Against  this  fort 


THE  GROTON  MASSACRE  281 

a  body  of  some  eight  hundred  of  the  British,  hav 
ing  landed  on  the  Groton  side  of  the  harbor,  marched 
with  the  expectation  of  an  easy  victory. 

After  passing  Fort  Trumbull,  Arnold  proceeded 
with  about  one  thousand  men  to  the  more  thickly 
settled  portion  of  New  London,  where  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  buildings  were  quickly 
reduced  to  ashes.  At  Fort  Griswold,  on  the  opposite 
side,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  determined  men 
had  gathered.  Unconditional  surrender  was  de 
manded  by  the  British  commander,  Colonel  Eyre, 
accompanied  by  the  threat  that  if  this  demand  was 
not  complied  with,  "martial  law"  would  be  put  in 
force,  meaning  that  no  quarter  would  be  given  to 
the  survivors  after  the  fort  was  taken.  To  this 
Colonel  William  Ledyard  sent  the  prompt  reply, 
"We  will  not  surrender,  let  the  consequences  be 
what  they  may."  The  British,  to  the  number  of 
eight  hundred  or  more,  immediately  advanced  to 
take  the  fort  by  storm,  but  were  met  by  a  brave 
and  stubborn  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  hundred 
and  fifty  men  who  had  hastily  gathered  for  the 
defense,  and  who  held  the  fort  for  nearly  an  hour, 
inflicting  severe  losses  upon  the  enemy.  At  last 
a  breach  was  made,  and  the  British  came  pouring 
in  on  the  east  side  of  the  fort.  Colonel  Ledyard, 
seeing  that  further  resistance  was  useless,  ordered 
his  men  to  lay  down  their  arms.  On  presenting 
his  own  sword  as  a  token  of  surrender  to  the  British 
officer  supposed  to  be  in  command,  the  brute  seized 
the  weapon  and  plunged  it  in  the  breast  of  the  brave 
Ledyard.  This  appeared  to  be  a  signal  for  indis- 


282  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

criminate  butchery  of  the  defenseless  men  who  had 
laid  down  their  arms.  Of  this  brave  little  band  but 
eight  or  ten  escaped  unhurt. 

After  burning  the  village  of  Groton,  the  British 
hastily  took  to  their  ships,  as  the  militia  began  to 
gather  from  adjoining  and  near-by  towns.  An 
official  return  shows  that  they  reembarked  with 
two  hundred  and  twenty  men  killed,  wounded  or 
missing,  a  loss  caused  by  one  hundred  and  fifty 
determined  defenders  of  Fort  Griswold. 

Comment  on  this  brutal  massacre  seems  hardly 
necessary.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  survival 
of  a  medieval  custom  still  made  it  a  part  of  the  code 
of  European  warfare  that  no  quarter  should  be 
given  to  the  garrison  of  a  captured  stronghold; 
and  it  is  true  that  the  British  commander  had 
warned  the  Americans  that  this  custom  would  be 
enforced.  The  code  had,  however,  always  been 
"honored  in  the  breach"  by  the  Americans,  as 
in  the  case  of  Stony  Point,  and  both  European  and 
American  civilization  were,  or  should  have  been, 
far  beyond  observing  it.  It  cannot  fail  to  stand  as 
a  blot  on  the  record  of  British  warfare  in  the  Revolu 
tion  which  has  hardly  a  parallel  in  the  history  of 
the  war. 

At  the  time  of  this  massacre  Governor  Trumbull 
was  at  Hartford,  where  he  received  the  news.  He 
promptly  ordered  General  Spencer  to  the  scene 
with  such  troops  as  could  be  mustered,  and 
sent  at  once  to  General  Heath  at  headquarters  to 
obtain  such  detailed  information  of  the  affair  as 
could  be  procured.  This  information  he  at  once 


SURRENDER  OF  CORNWALLIS        283 

communicated  to  General  Washington.  He  cor 
responded  with  Governor  Greene  of  Rhode  Island, 
urging  cooperation  to  resist  further  attacks  of  the 
enemy  on  the  shores  of  the  two  States.  Measures 
were  also  taken  for  the  relief  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Groton  and  New  London,  many  of  whom  had  lost 
all  they  possessed.  The  condition  of  many  widowed 
mothers  and  fatherless  children  called  for  speedier 
help  than  the  slow  movements  of  the  General 
Assembly  could  give,  and  a  "brief"  was  issued  for 
charitable  donations  to  relieve  their  immediate 
wants.  Governor  Trumbull  also  applied  to  Wash 
ington  for  a  detachment  of  the  French  fleet  to 
protect  the  coast  of  Connecticut,  but  the  application 
came  too  late,  as  the  fleet  had  left  the  country. 

During  these  anxious  days  cheering  news  was 
reaching  the  Governor  through  letters  from  his  son 
Jonathan,  who  was  at  this  time  at  Yorktown  in 
the  capacity  of  secretary  to  General  Washington. 
He  had  been  appointed  to  this  position  on  the 
sixteenth  of  the  previous  April,  succeeding  Colonel 
Robert  Hanson  Harrison,  who  had  served  in  that 
capacity  since  ijj6.1  The  letters  of  the  son  to  his 
father  report  in  some  detail  the  operations  in  prog 
ress  at  Yorktown  from  the  twenty-third  of  Sep 
tember  to  the  nineteenth  of  October,  the  day  after 
the  final  surrender  of  Cornwallis.  This  glorious 
news  was  the  culmination  of  many  cheering  re 
ports  from  the  younger  Jonathan,  in  which  he  men- 

1  Stuart's  statement  that  he  succeeded  Alexander  Hamilton  appears  to  be 
incorrect.  See  Letter  of  Washington  appointing  Trumbull,  April  16,  Sparks, 
8,14- 


284  JONATHAN   r RUM  BULL 

tions  also  Greene's  brilliant  victories  at  the  south. 
In  the  meager  diary  of  the  Governor  in  which  during 
his  busy  days  he  briefly  jots  down  leading  events, 
we  read: 

"Friday,  October  26th.  About  7  o'clo.  in  the 
eveg  recd  the  hand  Bill  from  D.  Govr  Bower,  of  the 
surrender  of  Ld  Cornwallis  &  his  army  —  9000 
men,  seamen  included  —  quantity  of  Warlike  Stores 
-  one  40  gun  ship  --  i  frigate  —  about  one  hundred 
Transports.  Praised  be  the  Lord  of  Hosts!" 


CHAPTER  XXV 

NEED  OF  CONTINUED  WAR-FOOTING DEANE*S  VIEWS 

MEASURES     FOR    DEFENSE  --  PLOTS     AGAINST     THE 

GOVERNOR — HIS    VINDICATION  --  FINAL    DECISION    OF 

THE    SUSQUEHANNA    CASE  SUBSEQUENT    EVENTS    IN 

WYOMING 

THE  rejoicing  of  the  Governor  which  has 
just  been  quoted  from  his  diary  is  unique 
as  an  entry  in  that  very  slight  journal 
which  he  was  doubtless  too  busy  to  make  more 
elaborate.  To  Washington  he  wrote,  sending  his 
warmest  congratulations,  speaking  of  the  victory 
at  Yorktown  as  "an  event  which  cannot  fail  to 
strengthen  the  impressions  of  European  powers  in 
favor  of  the  great  and  good  cause,  in  which  you 
have  so  long  and  successfully  contended,  and  go  far 
to  convince  the  haughty  King  of  Great  Britain, 
that  it  is  in  vain  to  persevere  in  his  cruel  and  in 
famous  purpose  of  enslaving  a  people,  who  can  boast 
of  Generals  and  armies  that  neither  fear  to  meet 
his  veterans  in  the  high  places  of  the  field,  or  pursue 
them  to  the  strongholds  of  security,  and  for  whose 
help  the  arm  of  the  Almighty  has  been  made  bare, 
and  his  salvation  rendered  gloriously  conspicuous; 
-  an  event  which  will  hasten  the  wished-for  happy 
period,  when  your  Excellency  may  retire  to  and 
securely  possess  the  sweets  of  domestic  felicity  and 

285 


286  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

glorious  rest  from  the  toils  of  war,  surrounded  by 
the  universal  applause  of  a  free,  grateful  and  happy 
people." 

To  these  sentiments  Washington  replied  under 
date  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  November : 

"I  most  earnestly  hope  that  this  event  may  be 
productive  of  all  those  happy  consequences  which 
your  Excellency  mentions;  and  I  think  that  its 
good  effects  cannot  fail  to  be  very  extensive,  unless 
from  a  mistaken  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  this 
success  unhappily  a  spirit  of  remissness  should 
seize  the  minds  of  the  States,  and  they  should 
set  themselves  down  in  quiet  with  a  delusive 
hope  of  the  contest  being  brought  to  a  close.  I  hope 
this  may  not  be  the  case.  To  prevent  so  great 
an  evil  shall  be  the  study  of  my  winter's  endeavor; 
and  I  cannot  but  flatter  myself  that  the  States, 
instead  of  relaxing  in  their  exertions,  will  be 
stimulated  to  the  most  vigorous  preparations  for 
another  active,  glorious,  and  decisive  campaign, 
which  if  properly  prosecuted  will,  I  trust,  under 
the  smiles  of  Heaven,  bring  us  to  the  end  of  this 
long  and  tedious  war,  and  sit  us  down  in  the 
full  security  of  the  great  object  of  our  toils,  - 
the  complete  establishment  of  peace,  liberty,  and 
independence." 

To  Rochambeau  Governor  Trumbull  also  wrote, 
expressing  his  gratitude  for  the  assistance  which 
France  had  rendered  in  achieving  this  glorious  vic 
tory.  This  letter  was  promptly  acknowledged, 
with  expressions  of  high  esteem. 

Quite  different  was  a  correspondence  with  Silas 


THE  REPLY  TO  DEANE  287 

Deane  into  which  the  Governor  found  himself 
obliged  to  enter,  owing  to  Deane's  request  that  his 
views  should  be  submitted  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  Connecticut.  The  long  letter  which  he  wrote  in 
explanation  of  these  views  was  dated  at  Ghent 
on  the  twenty-first  of  October.  Briefly  stated,  it 
was  the  presentation  of  arguments  for  the  United 
States  to  make  peace  with  Great  Britain,  regardless 
of  the  treaty  of  alliance  with  France,  which  nation 
Deane  believed  to  be  gaining  a  position  in  which  she 
could  oppress  us  more  grievously  than  the  Mother 
Country  ever  had  done  or  would  do.  This  letter 
came  at  a  most  inopportune  time  for  accomplishing 
its  purpose.  When  it  reached  its  destination  the 
country  was  rejoicing  over  the  surrender  of  Corn- 
wallis,  and  was  filled  with  gratitude  to  our  French 
allies  for  making  that  surrender  possible.  Governor 
TrumbulPs  reply,  temperate  yet  decisive  in  tone, 
was  unanimously  adopted  by  both  houses  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  duly  forwarded  to  Deane, 
who  was  regarded  with  suspicion  at  the  time.  Reply 
ing  to  his  suggestions  of  disregarding  the  treaty 
with  France,  and  stopping  the  burdensome  expen 
ditures  of  our  country  by  bringing  the  war  to  a 
close  through  negotiations  with  Great  Britain,  the 
Governor  says: 

"No,  I  will  sooner  consent  to  load  myself,  my 
constituents,  my  posterity  with  a  debt  equal  to  the 
whole  property  of  the  country  than  consent  to  a 
measure  so  detestably  infamous,  and  I  doubt  not 
but  my  countrymen  in  general  will  choose  with  me 
to  preserve  their  liberties  with  the  reputation  and 


288  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

consciousness  of  preserving  virtue,  even  tho'  poverty 
be  the  consequence."  1 

With  the  views  of  Washington  to  keep  up  the 
army  until  peace  should  be  definitely  determined, 
Governor  Trumbull  fully  agreed,  and  exerted  him 
self,  as  he  had  in  the  darkest  days,  to  bring  up  the 
quota  of  Connecticut  to  its  maximum.  It  appears 
by  the  records  of  the  January  session  of  1782  that 
the  quota  was  reported  to  the  General  Assembly  as 
filled,  and  that  measures  were  taken  for  the  defense 
of  the  Connecticut  coast  and  the  towns  bordering 
on  New  York. 

During  the  two  previous  years,  Trumbull  had 
experienced  a  taste  of  the  ingratitude  of  a  budding 
republic  by  failing  to  receive  a  majority  of  the 
votes  of  the  people.  In  1780  the  popular  vote  was 
3598  in  his  favor  and  3668  in  favor  of  other  candi 
dates.  The  General  Assembly,  as  provided  by  law, 
promptly  elected  him  Governor  by  a  vote  of  107  in 
his  favor  to  nine  against  him.  In  the  following  year, 
the  vote  of  the  General  Assembly  is  thus  recorded : 
Trumbull,  104;  William  Pitkin,  7;  Oliver  Wolcott, 
5;  Samuel  Huntington,  5;  Richard  Law,  i. 

If  the  newspapers  of  the  day  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  discussing  the  political  situations  and 
tactics  of  State  campaigns  as  they  do  at  the  present 
time,  we  should  doubtless  be  able  to  explain  fully 
the  opposition  to  Governor  Trumbull's  reelection 

1  Although  this  letter  was  generally  approved  by  members  of  Congress  and 
by  Washington,  it  was  later  hoped  that  no  answer  would  be  sent  to  Deane, 
as  silence  would  appear  more  dignified  and  afford  less  opportunity  for  miscon 
struction.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,  7th  series,  vol.  3,  p. 
365. 


REELECTION  OPPOSED  289 

and  the  methods  and  arguments  of  this  opposition. 
The  small  weekly  newspapers  of  the  day  are  pro- 
vokingly  silent  on  this  subject,  so  that  the  almost 
secret  political  methods  employed  lack  the  descrip 
tion  and  explanation  which  would  be  most  satis 
factory  in  the  present  instance.  But  if  there  were 
no  "yellow  journals"  to  malign  him  publicly,  the 
tavern-haunters  and  tavern  scandal-mongers  an 
swered  this  purpose  in  his  time  as  effectively  as  the 
"yellow  journals"  serve  similar  purposes  in  the 
present  time. 

The  schemes  for  removing  Trumbull  from  the 
governorship  of  Connecticut  were  believed,  at  the 
time,  to  be  the  work  of  the  enemy.  The  lies  which 
were  circulated  regarding  him  were  mainly  in  con 
nection  with  that  same  illicit  trade  with  the  enemy 
which  he,  of  all  men,  had  done  everything  in  his 
power  to  punish  and  prevent.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  too,  that  his  steadfast  and  unwearied  at 
tempts  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  army,  and 
his  policy  of  meeting  the  heavy  and  burdensome 
expenses  of  his  State  by  taxation  had  caused  criti 
cisms  at  least,  from  those  who  felt  the  burden  most 
keenly.  Then,  too,  the  aspirations  of  other  candi 
dates  for  an  office  which  Trumbull  had  held  for 
thirteen  years  doubtless  had  something  to  do  with 
the  opposition  which  had  developed.  Thus,  from 
a  position  where,  after  overcoming  the  early  opposi 
tion  to  his  candidacy,  he  had  so  established  himself 
in  the  hearts  of  the  freemen  of  Connecticut  that  it 
became  "a  rare  thing  to  see  a  counting  of  votes"  l 

1  Hartford  Courant,  April  2,  1782. 


290  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

for  Governor,  we  find  him,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
seventy-three,  the  victim  of  slander  and  of  jealousy 
and  political  ferment  as  a  reward  for  his  tireless, 
single-hearted,  patriotic  services. 

Legitimate,  outspoken  opposition,  if  it  existed, 
was  something  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  meet 
with  his  usual  candor  and  calmness;  but  the  methods 
of  the  slanderer  and  traducer  were  so  galling  to 
him  that  he  at  last  took  measures  to  expose  them 
to  the  light  of  day.  Among  these  methods  were  the 
exposing  in  public  in  New  York  of  cases  of  goods, 
supposed  to  contain  articles  of  illicit  trade,  plainly 
marked  with  his  name,  .  .  .  "and  they  have  been 
frequently  seen  to  send  them  on  board  vessels 
bound  eastward,  in  so  much  that  our  officers  in 
captivity  among  them  have  been  induced  to  believe 
his  Excellency  was  actually  concerned,  and  many 
were  not  undeceived,  till  they  were  exchanged,  and 
came  out,  and  enquired  into  the  truth  of  the  matter."1 

Proceedings  of  this  kind  were  supplemented  by 
the  appearance  of  a  "stranger  from  Middletown" 
at  Enfield,  where,  in  a  tavern,  in  the  presence  of  a 
number  of  people,  he  made  the  statement  that  "a 
vessel  which  belonged  to  his  Excellency  the  Gover 
nor,  and  which  was  employed  in  carrying  on  illicit 
trade,  had  lately  been  taken  coming  from  the  enemy 
loaded  with  goods,  and  that  she  was  brought  into 
one  of  the  ports  of  Connecticut  for  condemnation."  2 
The  story  of  course  spread  and  grew  as  such  stories 
will,  and  at  last  reached  the  notice  of  the  Governor 


1  Hartford  Courant,  April  2,  1783. 

2  Stuart,  "Life  of  Trumbull",  p.  566. 


PLOT  AGAINST  TRUMBULL          291 

himself,  through  a  correspondent.     He  lost  no  time 
in  addressing  the  General  Assembly  on  the  subject, 
under  date  of  January  29,  1782.    It  seems  necessary 
to  quote  this  address  in  full,  as  showing  his  attitude : 
"To  the  Honorable  General  Assembly  now  sitting: 
"A  member  of  the  honorable   House  of  Repre 
sentatives  handed  to  me  a  letter  of  the  2i8t  inst, 
which    is    herewith    offered    for    your    Observation, 
and  opens  the  occasion  of  this  address. 

"Perhaps  no  person  in  the  United  States  was 
earlier  apprised  than  myself  of  the  origin  and  in 
sidious  design  of  our  enemies  to  set  on  foot  and 
carry  on  a  trade  and  commerce  with  this  and  the 
other  States  for  the  manufactures  and  merchandise 
of  their  country,  or  more  deeply  sensible  of  its 
dangerous  and  pernicious  effects  —  and  I  am  per 
suaded  that  no  one  has  been  or  could  be  more  active 
and  vigilant  to  prevent  the  execution  of  that  en 
snaring  and  ruinous  project;  and  during  my  ad 
ministration  my  whole  time  has  been  devoted  to 
and  intent  upon  the  Salvation  of  my  Country,  and 
the  defence  of  its  inestimable  rights  against  the  open 
force  and  more  dangerous  secret  fraud  of  our  im 
placable  and  restless  enemy.  My  character  and 
conduct  in  these  respects,  I  am  happy  to  believe, 
meets  the  approbation  of  all  the  true  Friends  in  this 
State  in  proportion  to  their  knowledge  and  ac 
quaintance  with  them,  and  are  not  unknown  through 
out  all  these  States,  and  in  Europe.  Pardon  me, 
Gentlemen,  I  am  far  from  boasting;  I  have  not 
done  more,  but  less  than  my  duty,  and  it  is  my 
highest  temporal  wish  to  do  much  more  good  to 


292  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

my  State  and  Country,  and  to  see  its  Liberty  and 
Independence  established  on  a  firm  and  immovable 
basis. 

"But  who  can  stand  against  the  secret  and  malig 
nant  whispers  of  envy  and  falsehood,  which  like 
the  pestilence  walk  in  darkness?  My  Character  is 
dearer  to  me  than  all  worldly  instruments,  or  the 
remains  of  a  life  so  far  spent  and  exhausted  in  the 
service  of  my  country.  For  several  years  past, 
accumulated  and  increasing  slanders,  similar  to  the 
present,  have  been  whispered  and  directly  spread 
and  propagated  concerning  me  by  the  radical 
Enemies  of  our  Country's  cause,  by  deceived  or 
malicious  persons,  or  all,  as  I  must  believe.  Con 
scious  innocence  and  integrity  have  enabled  me 
calmly  to  bear  them;  —  and  in  my  circumstances 
I  have  not  thought  it  prudent  to  seek  a  legal  re 
dress,  although  in  some  instances,  I  could  easily 
have  traced  the  Slanders  to  their  Authors  —  and 
my  neglecting  to  seek  such  redress  has  to  my  knowl 
edge  been  construed  as  an  acknowledgment  of 
Guilt.  If  indeed  I  am  guilty  or  have  any  connec 
tions  with  a  conduct  so  contrary  to  the  Laws  and 
interests  of  my  Country,  and  which  I  profess  from 
my  heart  to  detest  and  abhor,  is  it  not  high  time  it 
was  known,  and  for  me  to  be  spurned  from  your 
confidence  and  trust?  The  author  of  the  present 
report  may  be  brought  to  your  View  —  the  way  is 
open  for  it. 

"Permit  me  to  ask,  if  I  am  and  have  been  thus 
guilty,  whether  your  honor,  wisdom,  and  integrity, 
or  all  are  not  also  affected,  while  by  your  suffrages 


HIS   VINDICATION  293 

I  hold  a  station  too  important  for  even  a  suspected 
person  to  fill  —  whether  under  all  the  circumstances, 
it  may  not  become  the  honor  and  dignity  of  this 
Virtuous  Assembly  to  inquire  into  and  investigate 
the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  facts  alledged,  and 
let  my  guilt,  if  it  appears,  be  fully  exposed?  It  is 
my  wish  —  but  it  is  cheerfully  submitted  to  the 
Wisdom  and  justice  of  the  Honorable  Assembly 
by  their  faithful,  obedient,  humble  servant, 

"Jonathan  Trumbull. 

"Hartford,  January  29th,  1782." 

The  General  Assembly,  in  compliance  with  the 
Governor's  wish,  at  once  appointed  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  matter.  This  committee  con 
sisted  of  four  members  of  the  Lower  House,  with 
Oliver  Wolcott  of  the  Upper  House  as  chairman. 
After  a  full  investigation  they  reported  "that  all 
reports  of  that  kind  respecting  his  Excellency  are 
false,  slanderous  and  altogether  groundless,  and 
that  they  most  probably  originate  from  the  Par 
tisans  and  Emissaries  of  the  Enemy  that  are  secretly 
among  the  people,  and  that  those  kind  of  Reports, 
tho'  intended  to  injure  his  Excellency's  private 
character,  are  designed  principally  to  embarrass 
Government,  and  sow  the  seeds  of  Jealousy  and 
Distress  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  with  a  View  to 
remove  out  of  the  way  a  Character  that  is  so  firmly 
opposed  to  every  Measure  that  is  favorable  to  the 
enemy.  And  tho'  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
the  Author  of  this  slanderous  Report,  we  are  inclined 
to  believe  him  to  be  an  Emissary  of  the  Enemy." 


294  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

In  the  following  election  of  May,  1782,  Governor 
Trumbull  was  once  more  chosen  by  the  vote  of  the 
people.  It  was,  as  we  shall  see,  by  his  own  choice, 
the  last  year  but  one  of  his  long,  arduous  and  faith 
ful  public  service;  and  his  reelection  by  popular 
vote  left  him  the  satisfaction  of  the  most  complete 
vindication. 

Although  no  fighting  of  any  consequence  ensued 
after  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  the  year  after 
that  event  was  one  of  solicitude,  anxiety  and  con 
tinued  hard  work  for  the  Governor  and  his  Council. 
The  importance  of  maintaining  a  war  footing  was 
something  which  it  seemed  next  to  impossible  to 
impress  upon  the  people.  Though  the  General 
Assembly  was  informed  that  the  quota  of  Con 
necticut  was  filled,  the  returns  from  the  army  as 
reported  by  Washington  to  Trumbull  showed,  as 
in  the  cases  of  other  States,  a  considerable  lack  of  a 
quota  in  the  service.  In  the  meantime  rumors  of 
negotiations  for  peace  were  actively  circulated  by 
the  enemy  and  eagerly  received  by  the  people,  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  create  strong  suspicions  that 
such  rumors  were  intended  to  prevent  enlistments, 
with  a  view,  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  to  new  mili 
tary  movements. 

Soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  Articles  of  Con 
federation  in  1781,  Pennsylvania  availed  herself  of 
the  provisions  of  these  articles  by  applying  to 
Congress  to  appoint  a  court  to  decide  the  long 
contested  Susquehanna  case.  Allowing  no  time  for 
Connecticut  to  send  to  England  for  important 
papers  applying  to  this  case,  as  requested  by  her 


SUS^UEHANNA  CASE  CLOSED        295 

counsel,  Congress  granted  the  request  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  appointed  commissioners  to  act  in  the 
matter.  Once  more  Governor  Trumbull  had  to 
review  this  case,  and  to  conduct  an  active  corre 
spondence  with  the  Connecticut  delegates  regarding 
it;  and  once  more  Connecticut  called  on  William 
Samuel  Johnson  to  act  as  one  of  the  attorneys  in 
the  case.1  The  hearing  occupied  forty-one  days, 
and  was  held  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  the 
decision,  no  reasons  for  which  have  ever  seen  the 
light,  was  " unanimous"  in  denying  the  claim  of 
Connecticut  to  the  Wyoming  Valley. 

Of  the  subsequent  legislative  proceedings  to  which 
this  very  peculiar  decision  gave  rise  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  speak  in  this  connection.  Conjecture 
alone  can  suggest  how  far  Governor  Trumbull  may 
have  been  informed  of  the  prospect  of  a  grant  of 
land  in  Ohio,  which  after  his  death  was  called  the 
Western  Reserve,  as  a  tacit  compensation  for  the 
loss  of  Wyoming.  That  the  decision  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  case  did  not  coincide  with  his  views  of  ju 
dicial  procedure  we  may  still  more  easily  imagine. 

But  the  hardships  and  sufferings  which  Con 
necticut  settlers  in  the  beautiful  Wyoming  Valley 
experienced  were  by  no  means  ended  by  the  de 
cision  of  the  Susquehanna  case.  Fierce  local  jealousy 
was  engendered  among  the  Pennsylvanians  by  the 
mere  fact  that  Connecticut  Yankees  were  peaceably 
occupying  land  which  they  had  a  perfect  right  to 
occupy  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Pennsylvania. 
This  local  jealousy  led,  in  the  early  spring  of  1784, 

1  The  other  attorneys  were  Eliphalet  Dyer  and  Jesse  Root. 


296  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

to  brutal  outrages  on  the  part  of  Pennsylvania 
troops  which  were  almost  a  parallel  to  the  Wyoming 
horror  of  1778,  or  at  least  to  the  flight  of  the  Con 
necticut  settlers  at  that  time. 

In  March,  1784,  after  a  winter  of  unusual  severity, 
the  Wyoming  Valley  was  devastated  by  floods  which 
carried  away  many  of  the  dwellings  and  covered 
the  fertile  fields  with  gravel.  Famine  was  staring 
the  settlers  in  the  face,  as  their  provisions  had  been 
carried  away  by  the  flood.  The  Pennsylvania 
Legislature  was  deaf  to  the  petitions  of  Connecticut 
Yankees  for  relief;  but  under  pretense  of  preventing 
contentions  between  them  and  the  Pennsylvanians, 
sent  an  armed  force  in  command  of  Justice  Patter 
son  to  prevent  alleged  troubles  which  did  not  exist. 
Finding  that  no  disorders  calling  for  military  inter 
ference  existed,  the  brutal  and  vindictive  Patterson 
proceeded  to  create  disorders  by  allowing  his  soldiers 
to  steal  the  scanty  supplies  of  the  settlers,  insult  the 
women,  and  drive  the  men  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 
He  also  barricaded  the  roads,  and  forbade  the 
farmers  to  hunt,  fish,  or  even  draw  water  from  their 
own  wells.  Construing  their  protests  and  resistance 
as  disorderly,  he  drove  one  hundred  and  fifty  families 
from  their  homes,  and  ordered  them  out  of  the 
country  by  forsaken  and  impassable  routes.  More 
than  five  hundred  men,  women  and  children  were 
thus  driven  into  the  wilderness,  and  many  of  them 
died  from  exposure  and  fatigue. 

The  authorities  at  Philadelphia,  on  learning  of 
Patterson's  brutal  measures,  issued  orders  dismiss 
ing  him  and  his  men.  These  orders  he  defied,  and 


WYOMING   VALLEY  297 

continued  his  hostile  measures  against  settlers  who 
had  returned  under  the  utterly  inadequate  pro 
tection  of  the  sheriff  of  Northumberland  and  his 
posse.  The  substitute  sent  by  the  authorities  of 
Pennsylvania  to  fill  Patterson's  place  at  a  time 
when  the  settlers  were  besieging  him  was  a  match 
for  Patterson  in  brutality. 

This  was  General  Armstrong,  who  arrived  on  the 
scene  with  four  hundred  militia.  Pledging  his  faith 
as  a  soldier  and  his  honor  as  a  gentleman  that,  if 
the  settlers  would  lay  down  their  arms,  Patterson's 
men  should  also  be  disarmed,  he  duped  the  settlers 
into  surrender  by  his  worthless  pledge,  and  marched 
seventy-six  of  them  to  jail  as  prisoners.  Fortunately 
that  august  and  somnolent  body  peculiarly  known 
to  the  government  of  Pennsylvania  as  the  Council 
of  Censors,  which  met  once  in  seven  years,  was  now 
in  session,  and  with  some  difficulty  settled  the 
matter  by  compelling  the  Legislature  to  restore  the 
Connecticut  settlers  to  the  full  possession  of  their 
property  in  the  valley.1 

Governor  Trumbull  lived  to  learn  the  full  par 
ticulars  of  these  outrages,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  was  more  deeply  than  ever  impressed  by 
them  with  the  need  of  concerted  action  among  the 
States,  and  the  mischief  of  local  jealousies. 

1  A  full  and  interesting  account  of  these  troubles  may  be  found  in  Professor 
McMaster's  "  History  of  the  People  of  the  U.S.  from  the  Revolution  to  the 
Civil  War",  vol.  i,  pp.  211-216. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

PEACE    NEGOTIATIONS  —  A    CRITICAL     PERIOD     FOR 

AMERICA  ANTI-FEDERALISM     IN     CONNECTICUT  - 

TRUMBULL'S  FEDERALISM  —  THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE 
CINCINNATI  —  TRUMBULL'S  REPLY  TO  WASHINGTON'S 
ADDRESS THE  FAREWELL  ADDRESS  OF  THE  GOV 
ERNOR,  AND  ITS  RECEPTION  BY  THE  GENERAL 

ASSEMBLY 

IF  the  Atlantic  cable  could  have  been  in  opera 
tion  in  1782  and  1783,  it  may  well  be  imagined 
that  political  affairs  in  the  United  States  might 
have  assumed  a  different  aspect.    At  the  same  time, 
it  may  also  be  imagined  that  the  use  which  the 
incompetent  Continental  Congress  might  have  made 
of  this   same    cable   would   have    done   more   than 
ever  to  hamper  the   actions  of  those  wonderfully 
successful  and  able  ambassadors,  Jay,  Franklin  and 
Adams. 

The  year  found  England  involved  in  the  most 
intricate  of  political  difficulties  at  home  and  polit 
ical  complications  abroad.  The  short-lived  ministry 
of  Rockingham,  followed  by  the  equally  short-lived 
but  more  efficient  ministry  of  Shelburne,  sufficed 
to  establish  terms  of  peace  with  the  United  States, 
which  terms  were  finally  ratified  by  the  definite 
treaty  of  September  3,  1784.  During  this  time, 
in  the  midst  of  changing  ministries  and  political 

298 


A   CRiriCAL  PERIOD  299 

turmoil,  England  had  before  her  the  added  task  of 
making    peace    with    Holland,    France    and    Spain. 

The  details  of  the  peace  negotiations  with  his 
own  country  were  most  carefully  watched  by  the 
Governor  of  Connecticut.  His  satisfaction  at  the 
final  cessation  of  hostilities  on  the  eighth  anni 
versary  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  may  well  be 
imagined.  The  victory  for  which  he  had  hoped  and 
toiled  and  prayed  was  now  won;  the  stress'  and 
strain  of  war  was  over,  and  a  new  era  which  he  had 
done  much  to  inaugurate  was  now  dawning  upon 
his  native  land. 

The  long  eighteen  months  following  the  surrender 
of  Cornwallis  had  been  months  of  uncertainty  and 
anxiety,  as  we  have  seen;  and  that  a  still  more 
critical  period  in  the  history  of  his  country  was  to 
follow,  Trumbull  could  see  as  plainly  as  any  of  the 
men  of  his  time.  That  sharply  defined  lines  were 
drawn  in  Connecticut  between  federalism  and  State 
rights  at  and  before  this  time  is  evident,  if  only 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  May  session  of  1782  the 
General  Assembly  passed  an  act  empowering  Con 
gress  to  collect  duties  on  imports  in  the  State,  pro 
vided  that  no  part  of  the  money  so  collected  should 
be  applied  to  the  half-pay  of  officers  in  the  army. 

It  was  upon  this  question  of  half-pay  that  the 
greatest  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  time  began. 
The  Governor  well  knew  that  the  measure  had  been 
urged  by  the  great  Washington  five  years  before, 
as  essential  for  keeping  together  the  remnant  of  an 
army  so  nearly  wiped  out  of  existence  by  the  terrible 
winter  at  Valley  Forge.  In  1780,  the  General 


300  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

Assembly  of  Connecticut  had  instructed  the  dele 
gates  to  Congress  to  oppose  the  measure;  and  their 
correspondence  with  the  Governor  shows  that  such 
opposition  accorded  with  their  personal  views.1 
Though  there  is  nothing  on  record  at  this  time  to 
show  the  views  of  the  Governor  on  this  question, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  his  subsequent  outspoken 
views  in  favor  of  union  and  a  strong  central  govern 
ment  were  the  result  of  careful  deliberation,  and 
opinions  well  grounded  in  experience.  Such  views 
placed  him  at  variance  with  a  large  portion  of  the 
people;  so  that,  at  the  annual  election  in  May, 
1783,  he  again  lacked  a  majority  of  the  popular 
vote.  So  strong,  however,  was  the  regard  in  which 
he  was  held  by  the  General  Assembly  that  this  body 
elected  him  to  the  governorship. 

This  was  to  be  the  last  term  of  his  public  services; 
and  a  stormy  term  it  was,  in  its  political  aspects. 
Nowhere  was  the  opposition  to  the  granting  of  half- 
pay  for  life  to  retiring  officers  of  the  army  stronger 
than  in  Connecticut;  and  the  compromise  or  sub 
stitute  of  commutation,  allowing  full  pay  for  five 
years,  did  not  in  any  way  help  matters.  The  prej 
udice  against  officers  of  the  army  grew  as  the  people 
found  them  accepting  the  grants  of  Congress,  and 
they  were  looked  upon  as  a  favored  class,  forming  the 
elements  of  an  aristocracy  in  a  democratic  country. 
But  little  was  needed  to  bring  this  feeling  to  a  white 
heat;  and  that  little  soon  appeared  in  the  formation 
of  the  politically  harmless  and  honorably  fraternal 

1  Letter  of  Samuel  Huntington  to  Governor  Trumbull,  October  26,  1780. 
In  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collection,  yth  series,  vol.  3,  p.  153. 


WASHINGTON'S  ADDRESS  301 

society,  the  Cincinnati.  This  society,  as  is  well 
known,  established  a  bond  of  brotherhood  among  the 
commissioned  officers  of  the  army,  with  no  more 
harmful  public  influence  than  providing  relief  for 
the  widows  and  orphans  of  such  officers.  But  the 
malcontents,  whose  name  was  legion,  scented  danger 
in  this  perfectly  harmless  and  honorable  society, 
and  the  alarmists  spread  the  tidings  through  the 
land  that  it  was  a  secret  organization  whicn  en 
dangered  the  liberties  of  the  country,  and  positively 
established  an  aristocracy  with  the  purpose  of 
taking  the  reins  of  government. 

If  anything  could  have  had  the  effect  of  allaying 
the  ferment,  the  masterly  address  of  Washington* 
to  the  governors  of  the  various  States  would  have 
done  this.  This  address  was  presented  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  in  June,  1783. 
It  was  met  with  resolutions  expressing  high  regard 
for  the  great  Commander  in  Chief,  but  carefully 
avoiding  mention  of  the  political  sentiments  which 
he  expressed  in  his  earnest,  statesmanlike  endeavor 
to  bring  about  concerted  action  among  the  States, 
and  loyalty  to  the  needed  form  of  general  govern 
ment.  In  transmitting  this  resolve  to  Washington, 
Governor  Trumbull  is  not  satisfied  to  make  it 
merely  an  official  communication,  but  is  evidently 
so  impressed  with  the  situation  that  he  is  moved  to 
add  the  following  personal  words: 

"Permit  me  to  address  your  Excellency  on  the 
pathetic  manner  you  take  leave  of  myself,  and  the 
State  over  which  I  have  the  honor  to  preside;  to 
assure  you  how  great  pleasure  and  satisfaction  we 


3o2  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

have  enjoyed,  in  the  wisdom,  magnanimity,  and 
skill  shown  in  forming,  disciplining  and  conducting 
the  army  of  the  United  States  to  so  glorious  an 
event;  and  also  in  the  patriotic  virtue  displayed  in 
this  last  address,  which  exhibits  the  foundation 
principles  so  necessary  to  be  freely  and  fully  in 
culcated,  and  appear  to  be  the  interest  of  all  to 
agree  in  and  pursue, --to  maintain  and  support 
an  indissoluble  union  of  the  States,  under  one 
federal  head,  a  sacred  regard  to  public  justice,  a 
proper  peace  establishment,  and  a  pacific  and 
friendly  disposition  among  the  people  of  the  United 
States;  to  exhibit  and  maintain  a  good  character 
for  wisdom,  honesty,  firmness  and  benevolence. 
How  pleasing  the  national  prospect!  How  critical 
the  present  moments!  Moderation,  patience,  and 
diligence  are  required  to  calm  the  public  mind  so 
variously  agitated  by  prejudice,  passion,  and  popular 
sinister  designs.  We  have  the  consolation,  Thai 
the  Lord  reigns.  Tranquillity  and  happiness  will 
be  disturbed  during  the  tumult.  God  grant  that 
it  may  soon  subside ! 

"In  your  retirement,  my  earnest  prayer  is  that 
every  temporal  and  heavenly  blessing  may  attend 
you.  I  cannot  persuade  myself  that  the  calls  of  the 
country  will  suffer  so  exalted  a  character  and  benevo 
lent  mind  to  withdraw  from  employment  for  the 
public  good;  although  it  is  your  wish." 

The  tumult  which  the  Governor  deprecates  in 
this  letter  was  at  its  height  at  this  time,  and  had 
been  brought  to  its  height  by  the  formation  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  with  the  Governor's  son 


SOCIETT  OF   THE  CINCINNATI     303 

Jonathan  as  a  charter  member,  soon  to  be  followed 
by  his  brother  John.  The  first  name  in  the  list  of 
honorary  members  in  this  society  in  Connecticut  is 
that  of  the  Governor  himself,  who  was  elected  to 
that  honor  on  March  17,  1784.  The  fact  that  he 
did  not  bear  a  Continental  commission  disqualified 
him  for  regular  membership,  but  under  the  rules  of 
the  order  an  honorary  member  was  an  active  life 
member,  lacking  only  the  power  to  transmit  nis 
membership  to  his  successors.  In  accepting  this 
honorary  membership,  he  showed  his  sympathy 
with  the  great  Washington,  the  first  President- 
General  of  the  society,  and  accepted  a  well-deserved 
honor;  as  members  of  this  class  were  only  such  as 
had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  service  of  their 
country. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  accepting  this 
honorary  membership  in  the  Society  of  the  Cin 
cinnati,  Governor  Trumbull  placed  himself  in  a 
position  in  which  he  stood  opposed  to  a  majority 
of  the  freemen  of  Connecticut.  This,  with  his  pro 
nounced  views  in  favor  of  federalism,  caused  him 
much  concern  and  anxiety  for  the  cause  he  had  done 
so  much  to  save,  and  made  the  last  year  of  his  long 
term  of  public  service  a  year  which  brought  but 
little  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  peace. 

Governor  Trumbull  had  now  reached  the  age  of 
seventy-three.  Added  to  the  political  turmoil  of 
the  time  was  the  fact  that  the  treaty  of  peace  brought 
him  once  more  face  to  face  with  his  indebtedness 
to  British  merchants;  for  this  treaty  validated  all 
claims  which  British  subjects  might  have  against 


3o4  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

people  of  the  United  States.  In  April,  1783,  we 
find  Governor  Trumbull  offering  to  Frazier,  Cham 
pion  and  Hawley  of  London  payment  of  their  claim 
in  money  of  the  United  States.1  In  view  of  the 
then  depreciated  condition  of  this  currency,  they 
preferred  to  retain  the  security  which  Trumbull 
-had  given  them  before  the  war.  Even  at  his  ad 
vanced  age  he  appears  to  hope  for  some  means  of 
retrieving  his  fortune,  and  with  this  end  in  view  he 
writes  to  his  friends  De  Neufville  and  Sons  and 
others  regarding  the  prospects  of  future  business 

But  the  long  habit  of  active  business  and  polit 
ical  life,  the  will  to  persevere  in  his  activities  could 
not  prevent  him  from  realizing  that  the  infirmities 
of  age  had  begun  to  take  their  hold  upon  him,  and 
the  weariness  of  a  long  strife  had  had  its  effect 
Impressed  at  last  with  his  physical  disabilities,  and 
longing  for  the  rest  and  retirement  which  his  friend 
the  great  Washington  also  craved,  he  presents  to 
the    General   Assembly   at    its   October   session   of 
1783  the  following  farewell  address: 

"To  the  Honorable  the  Council  and  House  of 
Representatives  in  General  Court  convened,  Oct. 

1783- 
"Gentlemen: 

"A  few  days  will  bring  me  to  the  anniversary  ol 
my  birth;  seventy-three  years  of  my  life  will  then 
have  been  completed;  and  next  May  fifty-one  years 
will  have  passed  since  I  was  first  honored  with  i 

i  This  was  doubtless  in  anticipation  of  the  settlement  of  his  Counts,  as 
he  had  expressed  the  intention  of  using  the  money  due  him  fron 
to  pay  his  foreign  creditors. 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS  305 

confidence  of  the  people  in  a  public  character. 
During  this  period,  in  different  capacities,  it  has 
been  my  lot  to  be  called  to  public  service,  almost 
without  interruption.  Fourteen  years  I  have  had 
the  honor  to  fill  the  chief  seat  of  government.  With 
what  carefulness,  with  what  zeal  and  attention  to 
your  welfare,  I  have  discharged  the  duties  of  my 
several  stations,  some  few  of  you  of  equal  age  with 
myself,  can  witness  for  me  from  the  beginning. 
During  the  latter  period,  none  of  you  are  ignorant 
of  the  manner  in  which  my  public  life  has  been 
occupied.  The  watchful  cares  and  solicitudes  of 
an  eight  years'  distressing  and  unusual  war,  have 
also  fallen  to  my  share,  and  have  employed  many 
anxious  moments  of  my  latest  time;  which  have 
been  cheerfully  devoted  to  the  service  of  my  country. 
Happy  am  I  to  find  that  all  these  cares,  anxieties, 
and  solicitudes,  are  compensated  by  the  noblest 
prospect  which  now  opens  to  my  fellow-citizens, 
of  a  happy  establishment  (if  we  are  but  wise  to 
improve  the  precious  opportunity)  in  peace,  tran 
quillity,  and  national  independence.  With  sincere 
and  lively  gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  our  Great 
Protector  and  Deliverer,  and  with  most  hearty 
congratulations  to  all  our  citizens,  I  felicitate  you, 
gentlemen,  the  other  freemen,  and  all  the  good 
people  of  the  State,  in  this  glorious  prospect. 

"Impressed  with  these  sentiments  of  gratitude 
and  felicitation  —  reviewing  the  long  course  of 
years  in  which,  through  various  events,  I  have  had 
the  pleasure  to  serve  the  State  —  contemplating, 
with  pleasing  wonder  and  satisfaction,  at  the  close 


3o6  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

of  an  arduous  contest,  the  noble  and  enlarged 
scenes  which  now  present  themselves  to  my  coun 
try's  view  —  and  reflecting  at  the  same  time  on 
my  advanced  stage  of  life  —  a  life  worn  out  almost 
in  the  constant  cares  of  office  -- 1  think  it  my  duty 
to  retire  from  the  busy  concerns  of  public  affairs; 
that  at  the  evening  of  my  days,  I  may  sweeten  their 
decline,  by  devoting  myself  with  less  avocation, 
and  more  attention,  to  the  duties  of  religion,  the 
service  of  my  God,  and  preparation  for  a  future 
happier  state  of  existence;  in  which  pleasing  em 
ployment,  I  shall  not  cease  to  remember  my  country, 
and  to  make  it  my  ardent  prayer  that  heaven  will 
not  fail  to  bless  her  with  its  choicest  favors. 

"At  this  auspicious  moment,  therefore,  of  my 
country's  happiness  —  when  she  has  just  reached 
the  goal  of  her  wishes,  and  obtained  the  object  for 
which  she  has  so  long  contended  and  so  nobly 
struggled,  I  have  to  request  the  favor  from  you, 
gentlemen,  and  through  you  from  all  the  freemen  of 
the  State,  that,  after  May  next,  I  may  be  excused 
from  any  further  service  in  public  life,  and  that, 
from  this  time,  I  may  no  longer  be  considered  as  an 
object  of  your  suffrages  for  any  public  employment 
in  the  State.  The  reasonableness  of  my  request 
will,  I  am  persuaded,  be  questioned  by  no  one. 
The  length  of  time  I  have  devoted  to  their  service, 
with  my  declining  state  of  vigor  and  activity,  will, 
I  please  myself,  form  for  me  a  sufficient  and  un 
failing  excuse  with  my  fellow-citizens. 

"At   this   parting   address,   you   will   suffer   me, 
gentlemen,  to  thank  you,  and  all  the  worthy  members 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS  307 

of  preceding  assemblies,  with  whom  I  have  had  the 
honor  to  act,  for  all  that  assistance,  counsel,  aid, 
and  support,  which  I  have  ever  experienced  during 
my  administration  of  government;  and  in  the 
warmth  of  gratitude  to  assure  you,  that,  till  my 
latest  moments,  all  your  kindness  to  me  shall  be 
remembered;  —  and  that  my  constant  prayer  shall 
be  employed  with  Heaven,  to  invoke  the  Divine 
Guidance  and  protection  in  your  future  councils 
and  government. 

"Age  and  experience  dictate  to  me  —  and  the 
zeal  with  which  I  have  been  known  to  serve  the 
public  through  a  long  course  of  years,  will,  I  trust, 
recommend  to  the  attention  of  the  people,  some  few 
thoughts  which  I  shall  offer  to  their  consideration 
on  this  occasion,  as  my  last  advisory  legacy. 

"I  would  in  the  first  place  entreat  my  country 
men,  as  they  value  their  own  internal  welfare,  and 
the  good  of  posterity,  that  they  maintain  inviolate, 
by  a  strict  adherence  to  its  original  principles, 
the  happy  constitution  under  which  we  have  so 
long  subsisted  as  a  corporation;  that  for  the  pur 
poses  of  national  happiness  and  glory,  they  will 
support  and  strengthen  the  federal  union  by  every 
constitutional  means  in  their  power.  The  existence 
of  a  Congress,  vested  with  powers  competent  to  the 
great  national  purposes  for  which  that  body  was 
instituted,  is  essential  to  our  national  security, 
establishment,  and  independence.  Whether  Con 
gress  is  already  vested  with  such  powers,  is  a 
question,  worthy,  in  my  opinion,  of  most  serious, 
candid,  and  dispassionate  consideration  of  this  leg- 


308  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

islature,  and  those  of  all  the  other  confederated 
States.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
pronounce  that,  in  my  opinion,  that  body  is  not 
possessed  of  those  powers  which  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  best  management  and  direction  of 
the  general  weal,  or  the  fulfilment  of  our  own  ex 
pectations.  This  defect  in  our  federal  constitution 
I  have  already  lamented  as  the  cause  of  many  in 
conveniences  which  we  have  experienced;  and  un 
less  wisely  remedied  will,  I  foresee,  be  productive 
of  evils,  disastrous,  if  not  fatal,  to  our  future  union 
and  confederation.  In  my  idea,  a  Congress  invested 
with  full  and  sufficient  authorities,  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  great  purposes  of  our  confederate 
union,  as  our  legislature  is  for  the  support  of  our 
internal  order,  regulation,  and  government  in  the 
State.  Both  bodies  should  be  intrusted  with  powers 
fully  sufficient  to  answer  the  designs  of  their  several 
institutions.  These  powers  should  be  distinct,  they 
should  be  clearly  defined,  ascertained,  and  under 
stood.  They  should  be  carefully  adhered  to,  they 
should  be  watched  over  with  a  wakeful  and  dis 
tinguished  attention  of  the  people.  But  this  watch 
fulness  is  far  different  from  that  excess  of  jealousy, 
which,  from  a  mistaken  fear  of  abuse,  witholds  the 
necessary  powers,  and  denies  the  means  which  are 
essential  to  the  end  expected.  Just  as  ridiculous  is 
this  latter  disposition,  as  would  be  the  practice 
of  a  farmer,  who  should  deprive  the  laboring  man 
of  the  tools  necessary  for  his  business,  lest  he  should 
hurt  himself  or  injure  his  employer,  and  yet  expects 
his  work  to  be  accomplished.  This  kind  of  ex- 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS  309 

cessive  jealousy  is,  in  my  view,  too  prevalent  at 
this  day;  and  will,  I  fear,  if  not  abated,  prove  a 
principal  means  of  preventing  the  enjoyment  of  our 
national  independence  and  glory,  in  that  extent 
and  perfection  which  the  aspect  of  our  affairs 
(were  we  to  be  so  wise,)  so  pleasingly  promises  to 
us.  My  Countrymen!  suffer  me  to  ask,  who  are 
the  objects  of  this  jealousy?  Who,  my  fellow 
citizens,  are  the  men  we  have  to  fear?  >Not 
strangers  who  have  no  connection  with  our  welfare! 
-  no,  they  are  men  of  your  own  choice,  from  among 
ourselves;  —  a  choice  (if  we  are  faithful  to  our 
selves,)  dictated  by  the  most  perfect  freedom  of  elec 
tion;  and  that  election  repeated  as  often  as  you 
could  wish,  or  is  consistent  with  the  good  of  the 
people.  They  are  our  brethren  —  acting  for  them 
selves  as  well  as  for  us  —  and  sharers  with  us  in  all 
the  general  burthens  and  benefits.  They  are  men, 
who  from  interest,  affection,  and  every  social  tie, 
have  the  same  attachment  to  our  constitution  and 
government  as  ourselves.  Why  therefore  should  we 
fear  them  with  this  unreasonable  jealousy?  In 
our  present  temper  of  mind,  are  we  not  rather  to 
fear  ourselves  ?  -  -  to  fear  the  propriety  of  our  own 
elections  ?  —  or  rather  to  fear,  that  from  this  excess 
of  jealousy  and  mistrust,  each  are  cautious  of  his 
neighbor's  love  of  power,  and  fearing  lest  if  he  be 
trusted,  he  would  misuse  it,  we  should  lose  all  con 
fidence  and  government,  and  everything  lend  to 
anarchy  and  confusion?  from  whose  horrid  womb, 
should  we  plunge  into  it,  will  spring  a  government 
that  may  justly  make  us  all  to  tremble. 


3io  JONATHAN   T RUM  BULL 

"I  would  also  beg,  that,  for  the  support  of  the 
national  faith  and  honor,  as  well  as  domestic  tran 
quillity,  they  would  pay  the  strictest  attention  to 
all  the  sacred  rules  of  justice  and  equity,  by  a  faith 
ful  observance  and  fulfillment  of  all  public  as  well 
as  private  engagements.  Public  expenses  are  un 
avoidable  :  —  and  those  of  the  late  war,  although 
they  fall  far  short  of  what  might  have  been  expected, 
when  compared  with  the  magnitude  of  the  object 
for  which  we  contended,  the  length  of  the  contest, 
with  our  unprepared  situation  and  peculiarity  of 
circumstances,  yet  could  not  fail  to  be  great ;  — 
but  great  as  they  may  appear  to  be,  when,  for  the 
defence  of  our  invaluable  rights  and  liberties,  the 
support  of  our  government,  and  our  national  exis 
tence,  they  have  been  incurred  and  allowed  by 
those  to  whom,  by  your  own  choice,  you  have 
delegated  the  power,  and  assigned  the  duty,  of 
watching  over  the  common  weal,  and  guarding  your 
interests,  their  public  engagements  are  as  binding 
on  the  people,  as  your  own  private  contracts;  and 
are  to  be  discharged  with  the  same  good  faith  and 
punctuality. 

"I  most  earnestly  request  my  fellow  citizens, 
that  they  revere  and  practice  virtue  in  all  its  lovely 
forms --this  being  the  surest  and  best  establish 
ment  of  national,  as  well  as  private  felicity  and 
prosperity  -  -  That,  dismissing  as  well  all  local  and 
confined  prejudices,  as  unreasonable  and  excessive 
jealousies  and  suspicions,  they  study  peace  and 
harmony  with  each  other,  and  with  the  several 
parts  of  the  confederated  Republic  —  That  they 


FAREWELL  ADDRESS  311 

pay  an  orderly  and  respectful  regard  to  the  laws  and 
regulations  of  government ;  and  that,  making  a  judi 
cious  use  of  that  freedom  and  frequency  of  election, 
which  is  the  great  security  and  palladium  of  their 
rights,  they  will  place  confidence  in  the  public  officers, 
and  submit  their  public  concerns,  with  cheerfulness 
and  readiness,  to  the  decisions  and  determinations 
of  Congress  and  their  own  legislatures;  whose  col 
lected  and  united  wisdom  the  people  will  find  ^o  be 
a  much  more  sure  dependence  than  the  uncertain 
voice  of  popular  clamor,  which  most  frequently, 
is  excited  and  blown  about  by  the  artful  and  de 
signing  part  of  the  community,  to  effect  particular 
and  oftentimes  sinister  purposes.  At  such  times,  the 
steady  good  sense  of  the  virtuous  public,  wisely 
exercised  in  a  judicious  choice  of  their  representa 
tives,  and  a  punctual  observance  of  their  collected 
counsels,  is  the  surest  guide  to  national  interest, 
happiness,  and  security. 

"Finally,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  exhort  you  to 
love  one  another:  let  each  one  study  the  good  of 
his  neighbor  and  of  the  community,  as  his  own :  - 
hate  strifes,  contentions,  jealousies,  envy,  avarice, 
and  every  evil  work,  and  ground  yourselves  in  this 
faithful  and  sure  axiom,  that  virtue  exalteth  a  na 
tion,  but  that  sin  and  evil  workings  are  the  de 
struction  of  a  people. 

"I  commend  you,  gentlemen,  and  the  good  people 
of  the  State,  with  earnestness  and  ardor,  to  the 
blessing,  the  protection,  the  counsel  and  direction  of 
the  great  Counsellor  and  Director,  whose  wisdom 
and  power  is  sufficient  to  establish  you  as  a  great 


3i2  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

and  happy  people;  and  wishing  you  the  favour  of 
this  divine  benediction,  in  my  public  character  — 
I  bid  you  a  long  —  a  happy  adieu. 

"I  am,  gentlemen, 
''Your  most  obedient,  humble  servant 

"  Jonth  Trumbull." 

Like  the  address  of  Washington  to  the  governors 
of  the  thirteen  States,  this  farewell  address  of 
Governor  Trumbull  was  respectfully  received.  To 
say  that  it  had  the  effect  of  pouring  oil  upon  the 
troubled  waters  of  Connecticut  politics,  however, 
would  be  to  say  too  much.  We  may  imagine  that  it 
provoked  much  discussion,  and  that  probably  words 
regarding  the  political  situation,  even  though  they 
were  the  words  of  the  great  Washington,  could  not 
carry  more  weight  with  the  people  of  Connecticut 
than  this  same  address  just  quoted  in  full.  To 
such  men  as  Roger  Sherman,  Oliver  Ellsworth, 
William  Samuel  Johnson,  Matthew  Griswold,  the 
Huntingtons  and  many  others  among  the  prom 
inent  men  of  the  State  the  arguments  and  political 
statements  of  the  address  were  clear.  Such  men 
were  already  convinced  that  Washington  and  Trum 
bull  were  right  in  their  views.  But  a  majority  of 
the  rank  and  file,  with  some  prominent  leaders, 
clung  to  the  narrower  view  of  the  situation  which 
had  been  inbred  among  them  through  generation 
after  generation  of  Connecticut  conservatism  and 
autonomy.  Congress  had  already  been  driven  from 
Philadelphia  by  a  mutinous  mob  of  unpaid  soldiers; 
the  incendiary  address  to  the  army  at  Newburgh 
had  been,  by  Washington's  unfailing  tact,  turned 


RECEPTION  OF  ADDRESS  313 

against  the  intriguers  who  circulated  it;  but  such 
events  carried  no  lessons  with  them  for  the  anti- 
federalist  party.  Sober  second  thought  after  the 
fruitless  Middletown  convention  of  the  following 
December  was  needed;  the  failure  of  credit  abroad, 
and  the  demonstrations  of  the  inability  of  Congress 
to  adopt  any  legislation  which  could  be  of  any 
effect,  —  all  these  bitter  experiences  were  needed, 
together  with  the  gradually  growing  fedep^lism 
among  former  anti-federalists  in  other  States,  to 
bring  the  people  into  full  accord  with  the  political 
sentiments  so  freely  expressed  in  the  Governor's 
address. 

In  the  General  Assembly  something  of  an  official 
kind  had  to  be  done  regarding  this  address.  Here 
was  a  Governor  who  had  safely  carried  his  State 
through  this  terrible  struggle  of  eight  years,  whose 
personal  character  commanded  their  respect,  whose 
advanced  age  and  long,  arduous  service  certainly 
called  for  recognition.  His  address  is  before  the 
House,  but  contains  certain  political  doctrines  which 
are  not  even  recognized  by  the  majority  as  whole 
some,  if  bitter  medicine,  and  which  are  by  some 
regarded  as  poison.  The  situation  is  delicate,  and 
for  that  reason  the  address  is  referred  to  that  last 
resort  of  procrastination,  —  a  committee.  In  due 
time  the  committee  reports,  recommending  certain 
guarded  resolutions,  which  may  possibly  be  con 
strued  as  the  adoption  of  the  Governor's  political 
views  by  the  General  Assembly.  To  this  the  Lower 
House  objects,  and  votes  to  refer  the  report  and 
resolutions  to  the  next  General  Assembly,  to  con- 


3H  JONATHAN   T RUM  BULL 

vene  six  months  later.  To  this  the  Senate  dissents. 
A  committee  of  conference  of  the  two  Houses  finally 
agrees  upon  amended  resolutions,  shorn  of  all 
political  character,  which  resolutions  were  readily 
passed  by  both  houses,  and  read  as  follows : 

"Whereas  his  Excellency  Jonathan  Trumbull  Es 
quire,  Governor  and  Commander-in-chief  in  and 
over  the  State  of  Connecticut,  has  signified  in 
an  address  to  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  communi 
cated  to  their  constituents,  his  desire  that  he  might 
not,  considering  his  advanced  Age,  be  considered 
by  the  freemen  of  this  State  as  an  object  of  their 
choice  at  the  next  general  election;  as  the  Governor 
has  declared  his  wish  to  retire,  after  the  expiration 
of  his  present  appointment,  from  the  cares  and 
business  of  government : 

"Resolved  by  this  Assembly,  That  they  consider 
it  as  their  duty  in  behalf  of  their  constituents,  to 
express  in  terms  of  the  most  sincere  gratitude,  the 
highest  respect  for  his  Excellency  Governor  Trum 
bull,  for  the  great  and  eminent  services  he  has 
rendered  this  State  during  his  long  and  prosperous 
administration;  more  especially  for  that  display 
of  wisdom,  justice,  fortitude  and  magnanimity, 
joined  with  the  most  unremitting  attention  and 
perseverance,  which  he  has  manifested  during  the 
late  successful  though  distressing  war;  which  must 
place  the  chief  magistrate  of  this  State  in  the  rank 
of  those  great  and  worthy  patriots,  who  have  em 
inently  distinguished  themselves  as  the  defenders 
of  the  rights  of  mankind. 

"And    that    this    Assembly    consider    it    a    most 


RE  PIT  TO   THE  ADDRESS  315 

gracious  dispensation  of  Divine  Providence,  that 
a  life  of  so  much  usefulness  has  been  prolonged  to 
such  an  advanced  age,  with  unimpaired  vigor  and 
activity  of  mind. 

"But  if  the  freemen  of  this  State  shall  think 
proper  to  comply  with  his  Excellency's  request,  it 
will  be  the  wish  of  this  Assembly,  that  his  successor 
in  office  may  possess  those  eminent  public  and 
private  virtues,  which  gave  so  much  lustre  t0  the 
character  of  him  who  has  in  the  most  honorable 
manner  so  long  presided  over  this  State. 

"It  is  further  Resolved -- That  the  Secretary 
present  to  Governor  Trumbull  an  authentic  copy 
of  this  act,  as  a  testimony  of  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  the  Legislature  of  this  State.  And  the  Secre 
tary  is  further  directed,  that,  as  soon  as  he  shall 
be  furnished  with  such  copy,  he  cause  the  same 
to  be  printed,  together  with  this  act." 

Thus  the  General  Assembly  testified  to  an  ap 
preciation  of  the  Governor's  past  services,  though 
the  majority  were  unwilling  to  endorse  his  political 
views.  Not  so,  however,  was  Washington.  A  copy 
of  the  Governor's  farewell  address  was  sent  him  by 
the  Governor's  son  Jonathan,  and  met  with  the 
following  comment  from  the  Father  of  his  Country: 

"I  sincerely  thank  you  for  the  copy  of  the  Address 
of  Governor  Trumbull  to  the  General  Assembly  and 
freemen  of  your  State.  The  sentiments  contained 
in  it  are  such  as  would  do  honor  to  a  patriot  of 
any  age  or  nation;  at  least  they  are  too  coincident 
with  my  own,  not  to  meet  with  my  warmest  appro 
bation.  Be  so  good  as  to  present  my  cordial  respects 


316  JONATHAN   T RUM  BULL 

to  the  Governor,  and  let  him  know  that  it  is  my 
wish,  that  the  mutual  friendship  and  esteem,  which 
have  been  planted  and  fostered  in  the  tumult  of 
public  life,  may  not  wither  and  die  in  the  serenity 
of  retirement.  Tell  him  that  we  should  rather  amuse 
the  evening  hours  of  our  life  in  cultivating  the 
tender  plants,  and  bringing  them  to  perfection, 
before  they  are  transplanted  to  a  happier  clime." 

But  six  months  now  remained  before  the  retire 
ment  of  the  Governor  from  public  life.  During  this 
time  the  political  turmoil  began  to  subside.  The 
Middletown  convention  held  one  or  two  sessions 
and  adopted  resolutions  which  failed  to  fulminate 
throughout  the  State,  and  inflammatory  addresses 
to  the  freemen  which  failed  to  inflame.  How  much 
of  this  subsidence  of  the  political  turmoil  was  due 
to  the  Governor's  unflinching  stand  on  political 
matters,  it  is  of  course  impossible  to  say;  but  we 
may  safely  accord  to  his  influence  a  good  share  of 
the  brighter  political  prospect  which  was  then 
beginning  to  dawn. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

GOVERNOR     GRISWOLD     ELECTED TRUMBULL     IN 

PRIVATE     LIFE  —  SETTLEMENT    FOR    EIGHT    YEARS* 

SERVICES  HIS    OWN    RETROSPECT  —  HIS    PURSUITS 

IN  PRIVATE  LIFE HONORS  BESTOWED  UPON  HIM  — 

"BROTHER  JONATHAN"  ' 

F  •  AHE  May  election  of  1784  resulted  in  the 
I  choice  of  Matthew  Griswold  for  Gov- 

JL  ernor.  He  was  not  elected  by  vote  of  the 
freemen,1  owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  fact  that  he  had  so 
openly  espoused  the  political  views  of  Governor 
Trumbull.  The  views  of  the  General  Assembly, 
however,  had  so  materially  changed  since  the  fare 
well  address  of  the  Governor  six  months  before  that 
Griswold  was  readily  elected  by  that  body.  It  is 
said  that  Governor  Trumbull  had  been  strongly 
urged  to  continue  as  a  candidate  for  the  position  he 
had  so  long  held;  but  however  this  may  be,  he 
remained  firm  in  his  determination  to  retire  from 
public  life. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  May  he  retired  to  his  home 
in  Lebanon.  He  had  listened  to  the  customary 
election  sermon,  delivered  on  this  impressive  oc 
casion  by  the  Reverend  Doctor  Joseph  Huntington 
of  Coventry.  He  had  received  from  the  General 

1  The  popular  vote  was  declared,  Griswold  2192,  Pitkin  1698,  Huntington 
1177,  Oliver  Wolcott,  1053,  scattering  742.  Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles,  vol.  3,  p. 

120. 

317 


3i8  JONATHAN   T RUM  BULL 

Assembly  a  brief  but  appropriate  parting  tribute, 
his  reply  to  which  his  biographer,  Stuart,  is  good 
enough  to  supply  from  his  own  vivid  imagination ;  l 
and  as  a  crowning  gratification  had  seen  on  the 
twentieth  of  May  an  act  passed  by  the  General 
Assembly,  by  a  large  majority,  unconditionally 
favoring  the  collection  by  Congress  of  duties  or 
"imposts"  on  imported  goods.  This  measure  was 
a  tacit  consent  to  the  half-pay  and  commutation 
acts  of  that  body,  and  thus  showed  that  the  retiring 
Governor  had  only  been  a  little  in  advance  of  his 
day  in  advocating  such  legislation,2  or,  at  least,  the 
keeping  the  contract  which  such  legislation  involved. 
The  retiring  Governor  had  now  an  opportunity 
to  look  into  his  own  affairs  and  condition.  For 
eight  years  he  had  given  up  all  attempts  to  engage 
in  business,  having  previously  resigned  the  various 
positions  as  judge  and  magistrate  which  he  held 
when  first  elected  to  the  governorship,  and  having 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the  arduous  duties 
of  that  office.  We  have  seen,  from  intimations  in 
his  farewell  address,  that  he  felt  conscious  that 
the  infirmities  of  age  were  beginning  to  affect  him, 
and  that  but  a  very  few  years  at  most  would  bring 
his  earthly  pilgrimage  to  its  end.  It  was  a  time,  at 
last,  to  set  his  house  in  order.  Added  to  his  con 
sciousness  of  the  infirmities  of  age  was  the  con 
sciousness  that  his  financial  affairs  were  at  their 
lowest  ebb.  His  salary  as  Governor  had  been  regu 
larly  voted  by  the  General  Assembly,  but  we  learn 

1  Life  of  Trumbull,  p.  650. 

2  See  ante,  p.  299. 


PERSONAL  ACCOUNTS  319 

from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  on  April  29,  1785,  to 
his  son  John  that  he  had  "received  but  two  half 
years'  salaries  since  the  beginning  of  our  contest 
with  Great  Britain." 

In  presenting  his  accounts  to  the  General  As 
sembly  he  says  that  rather  than  to  have  called 
upon  the  State  even  for  his  pittance  of  £300  per 
year  during  the  exigencies  of  war  he  would  have  lost 
the  amount  "forever/'  It  is  difficult  to  discover 
just  what  his  means  of  subsistence  were  during  those 
trying  times;  but  as  the  Governor's  share  in  naval 
prize  money  was  quite  liberal,  though  not  so  much 
as  at  previous  times,  we  must  imagine  that  from 
this  source  added  to  the  meager  product  of  the 
farm,  he  eked  out  his  humble,  unostentatious  liveli 
hood. 

His  claim  upon  the  State  for  his  salary,  dis 
bursements  and  extra  services  in  the  Susquehanna 
case  and  other  matters  was  readily  allowed,  amount 
ing  to  three  thousand  and  sixteen  pounds,  eleven 
shillings  and  fourpence,  and  was  liquidated  by 
three  notes  bearing  interest  and  redeemable  re 
spectively  in  five,  six  and  seven  years.  Thus  was 
a  bankrupt  Governor  paid  by  a  bankrupt  State  in 
the  times  when  both  had  exhausted  their  resources 
in  a  righteous  and  at  last  successful  cause. 

With  this  settlement  of  his  accounts  with  his 
State,  Governor  TrumbulPs  public  record  ends. 
It  was  a  year  after  his  retirement  from  office  that  the 
allowance  of  his  accounts  was  passed  by  vote  of 
the  General  Assembly;  so  that,  at  the  time,  he 
was  nearing  the  completion  of  the  seventy-fifth 


320  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

year  of  his  life.  More  than  a  year  before  this  time 
he  had  written  to  his  friend  Washington,  doubtless 
in  recognition  of  the  message  already  quoted  which 
the  latter  had  sent  him  through  his  son  Jonathan : 

"I  felcitate  you,  Sir,  with  great  cordiality,  on 
your  having  already  reached  the  goal  of  your  wishes, 
"and  most  devoutly  invoke  the  Divine  benediction 
on  your  enjoyments  and  pursuits.  A  month  more, 
I  trust,  will  bring  me  to  the  haven  of  retirement; 
in  the  tranquillity  of  which  I  hope  to  have  leisure 
to  attend  to  and  cultivate  those  seeds  of  private 
friendship,  which  have  been  planted  during  the 
tumults  of  war,  and  in  the  cultivation  of  which  I 
promise  myself  to  reap  much  pleasure. 

"Indulging    in    these    prospects,    I    am    induced 
to  wish,  and  even  to  hope,  that  the  correspondence 
between    you    and    me,    which    commenced    under 
the    pressure    of   disagreeable    circumstances,    may 
not  wholly  cease  when  we  find  ourselves  in  a  happier 
situation.       Although   enveloped   in  the   shades   of 
retirement,    the    busy    mind    cannot    suppress    its 
activity,    but    will    be    seeking    some    employment, 
which  will  indeed  be  necessary  to  dispel  the  langour 
which  a  scene  of  inactivity  would  be  apt  to  produce. 
Subjects  will   not   be   wanting;    far   different,    and 
more  agreeable,  I  trust,  than  those  we  have  been 
accustomed    to    dwell    upon;     and    occasions    may 
present  which  will  serve  to  beguile  a  lingering  hour, 
and   afford   some   pleasing   amusement,   or  instruc 
tive  information.     Let  not  the  disparity  of  age,  or 
the    idea    of   a    correspondent    seventy-three    years 
advanced   on   his  journey  through   life,   chill  your 


LETTER  FROM  WASHINGTON         321 

expectations  from  this  proposal.  I  promise  you 
my  best  endeavors,  and  when  you  perceive,  as 
too  soon,  alas!  you  may,  that  your  returns  are  not 
proportional  to  your  disbursements,  you  have  only 
to  cease  your  correspondence;  I  shall  submit." 

To  this  Washington  replies  under  date  of  May 
fifteenth : 

"It  was  with  great  pleasure  and  thankfulness  I 
received  a  recognisance  of  your  friendship,  in'your 
letter  of  the  2oth  of  last  month. 

"It  is  indeed  a  pleasure,  from  the  walks  of  private 
life  to  view  in  retrospect  all  the  meanderings  of  our 
past  labors,  the  difficulties  through  which  we  have 
waded,  and  the  happy  haven  to  which  the  ship 
has  been  brought.  Is  it  possible,  after  this,  that 
it  should  founder?  Will  not  the  All-wise  and  All- 
powerful  Director  of  human  events  preserve  it? 
I  think  he  will.  He  may,  however,  (for  some  wise 
purpose  of  his  own,)  suffer  our  indiscretions  and 
folly  to  place  our  national  character  low  in  the 
political  scale,  and  this,  unless  more  wisdom  and 
less  prejudice  take  the  lead  in  our  government,  will 
most  certainly  happen. 

"Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir,  there  is  no  disparity 
in  our  ways  of  thinking  and  acting,  though  there 
may  happen  to  be  a  little  in  the  years  we  have 
lived,  which  places  the  advantage  of  the  corre 
spondence  on  my  side,  as  I  shall  profit  by  your 
experience  and  observations;  and  that  no  corre 
spondence  can  be  more  pleasing  to  me  than  that 
which  originates  from  similar  sentiments  and  similar 
conduct  through  (though  not  a  long  war,  the  im- 


322  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

portance  of  it  and  attainments  considered,)  a  pain 
ful  contest.  I  pray  you,  therefore,  to  continue  me 
among  the  number  of  your  friends,  and  to  favor  me 
with  such  observations  and  sentiments  as  may 


occur." 


How  far  this  intention  of  exchanging  friendly 
letters  was  carried  out,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
From  the  published  letters  of  Washington  we  learn 
that  he  unexpectedly  found  himself  flooded  with 
correspondence  and  with  callers  at  about  this  time 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  seriously  affected  his 
personal  affairs,  and  even  threatened  his  health. 
Governor  Trumbull,  too,  was  occupied  very  fully 
with  his  own  personal  affairs  for  more  than  a  year 
after  the  correspondence  just  quoted.  It  seems 
doubtful,  therefore,  if  there  was  much  opportunity 
for  such  active  personal  correspondence  as  these 
two  patriots  had  promised  themselves.  If  any 
letters  were  exchanged,  they  were  not  of  an  official 
character,  and  for  that  reason  would  not  have  been  as 
carefully  preserved  as  the  mass  of  official  letters 
during  the  war.  However  this  may  be,  the  letter 
of  Governor  Trumbull  and  the  reply  of  Washington 
just  quoted  give  as  good  indication  of  the  regard 
in  which  they  held  one  another  as  any  number  of 
personal  letters  could  give. 

The  settlement  with  the  State  having  been  effected, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  ex-Governor  had,  of  course, 
more  time  to  devoted  to  his  private  affairs  and  to 
his  favorite  pursuits.  He  had  time,  too,  which  had 
not  till  then  been  granted  him,  to  take  an  old  man's 
retrospect  of  the  scenes  through  which  he  had 


PERSONAL  AFFAIRS  323 

passed,  and  of  the  busy,  useful  life  which  was  now 
fast  drawing  to  a  close.  From  his  memorial  to  the 
General  Assembly  in  presenting  his  accounts,  we 
find  that  he  alludes  to  his  personal  experiences  and 
sacrifices  for  the  first  time;  "to  the  busy  and  dis 
tressing  scenes  which  followed  for  a  succession  of 
about  eight  years,  the  burden  of  which,  in  this 
State,  in  a  peculiar  manner  fell  and  centered  on 
him  —  a  period  during  which,  at  home  or  abroad, 
he  had  scarcely  time  to  eat  his  necessary  food  — 
and  many  sleepless  nights  —  to  the  singularly  ob 
noxious  light  in  which  he  stood  with  the  enemy - 
to  the  price  that  was  set  upon  his  head  —  and  add 
to  these  the  large  expenses  of  attending,  besides  the 
stated,  fourteen  special  assemblies  —  and  other  ex 
penses  abroad.  But  it  is  impossible,  without  the 
experience,  for  anyone  to  realize  or  form  an  ade 
quate  idea  of  the  multiplicity,  weight  and  burden 
which  lay  upon  him  during  that  trying  scene."  l 

This  statement,  it  should  be  remembered,  is 
in  support  of  -  -  almost  in  apology  for  —  claims  for 
extra  services,  which  it  was  customary  for  the 
General  Assembly  to  allow  the  Governor,  as  shown 
by  precedents  which  he  cites,  in  which  more  liberal 
allowance  had  been  made  than  he  claims  in  this 
instance. 

The  statement  that  a  price  had  been  set  on  his 
head  comes  in  the  form  of  documentary  evidence 
for  the  first  time  in  this  memorial.  We  know  him 

1This  extract  is  from  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  memorial  which  is  not  in 
Governor  Trumbull's  handwriting,  and  may  possibly  differ  in  phraseology 
from  the  original. 


324  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

well  enough  to  know  that  he  would  not  make  such 
a  statement  except  upon  good  authority.  Tradi 
tion  tells  of  a  visit  made  by  a  stranger,  whose  ap 
pearance  was  suspicious,  at  the  Governor's  house 
at  Lebanon  at  a  time  when  he  was  ill  and  in  bed. 
This  stranger  so  persistently  demanded  an  inter- 
vie^  with  the  Governor  that  his  housekeeper,  Mrs. 
Hyde,  at  last  armed  herself  with  shovel  and  tongs, 
and  drove  the  intruder  from  the  house,  doubtless 
giving,  at  the  same  time,  an  alarm  to  the  neigh 
borhood  which  made  Lebanon  too  hot  to  hold  him. 
In  the  early  days  of  the  war,  too,  Governor  Trum- 
bull  was  known  in  England  as  the  "rebel  governor", 
all  the  other  governors  being  loyalists.  It  is  quite 
probable,  too,  that  the  article  in  the  Political  Mag 
azine  of  London,  which  has  been  attributed  to  the 
Reverend  Samuel  Peters,  was  written  in  full  knowl 
edge  that  it  might  serve  the  turn  of  some  enter 
prising  enemy  who  aspired  to  reap  the  reward  which 
was  set  on  the  Governor's  head.  For  that  reason 
the  personal  description  which  it  gives  is  more 
reliable  than  the  majority  of  the  statements  of 
Peters. 

It  seems  that  the  Governor's  expectations  of  a 
retired  life  were  but  partially  fulfilled  during  the 
year  1784,  for  on  February  15,  1785,  we  find  him 
writing  to  Lane,  Son  and  Fraser  of  London : 

"It  is  my  intention  to  put  over  my  affairs  of 
business  in  a  Trading  way  into  the  Hands  of  my 
two  sons  as  soon  as  I  can,  and  live,  myself,  in  a 
manner  freer  from  Encumbrances  than  I  do  at 
present  —  'tis  in  your  power  to  direct  and  help 


STUDIES  IN   rHEOLOGT  325 

me  forward,  or  to  put  me  and  my  sons  under  great 
Disadvantages." 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  he  was  able  to 
some  extent  to  carry  out  the  intentions  expressed 
in  his  farewell  address ;  for  we  learn  from  his  pastor, 
the  Reverend  Zebulon  Ely,  that  "This  recess  from 
public  employment  a  little  before  his  decease, 
afforded  him  a  golden  opportunity  for  his  beloved 
sacred  duty.  This  he  diligently  and  delightfully 
improved."  1  This  was  probably  his  principal  and 
favorite  study;  for  from  the  same  source  we  learn 
that  even  in  the  busy  days  of  the  war  he  devoted 
every  moment  he  could  spare  to  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  original  Hebrew,  in  which  language 
he  was  " expert." 

His  correspondence  with  Doctor  Ezra  Stiles, 
President  of  Yale  College,  shows  that  at  this  time 
Trumbull  had  returned  to  the  pursuit  of  his  chosen 
profession  of  more  than  fifty  years  before,  employing 
much  of  his  time  in  writing  sermons  which  he  sub 
mitted  to  Doctor  Stiles.  This  he  did,  no  doubt, 
with  a  view  to  assist  his  own  studies  in  theology. 

Although  this  was  his  principal  study,  his  fond 
ness  for  some  secular  studies,  and  the  natural  ac 
tivity  of  a  mind  which  could  not  brook  an  idle 
moment,  led  him,  no  doubt,  to  some  reading  in 
history,  jurisprudence  and  other  literature. 

In  recognition  of  his  scholastic  acquirements  and 
statesmanship,  he  received  from  Yale  College  in 
1779  2  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.,  and  the  same 

1  Funeral  sermon,  August  19,  1785. 

2  October  27,  1779.    Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles,  vol.  2,  p.  332. 


326  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

degree  also  from  the  University  of  Edinburgh  in 
1785.  In  1782,  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  These 
honors  all  came  to  him  unsought,  so  much  so  that, 
in  the  case  of  the  American  Academy  it  became 
necessary  for  his  friend  Doctor  Stiles  to  remind 
him  to  acknowledge  the  honor  and  accept  the  elec 
tion  nearly  a  year  after  its  date. 

Of  all  the  honors  which  attach  to  his  name  none 
is  so  cherished  by  Connecticut  men  especially  as 
the  title  "Brother  Jonathan",  which  tradition  tells 
us  that  Washington  bestowed  upon  him  in  the  days 
of  the  Revolution,  and  which,  it  is  generally  be 
lieved,  came  to  be  adopted,  for  this  reason,  as  the 
household  name  of  the  American  nation.  Until 
recently,  this  version  of  the  origin  of  our  national 
sobriquet  has  never  been  questioned  so  far  as  can  be 
learned ;  but  in  1902  an  elaborate  pamphlet  of 
thirty-four  pages  was  published  by  Mr.  Albert 
Matthews  of  Boston,1  discrediting  the  title  as 
acquired  by  Governor  Trumbull  in  this  way,  and 
thus,  of  course,  discarding  him  as  the  source 
of  our  national  nickname. 

It  hardly  serves  our  purpose  to  go  into  the  elab 
orate  treatment  which  Mr.  Matthews  has  given 
to  this  subject,  investigating,  as  he  has,  the  use  of 
the  forename  Jonathan  from  the  seventeenth  century 
down,  as  a  term  of  derision  or  mild  pleasantry. 
Like  most  attempts  to  break  down  traditions,  Mr. 
Matthews'  paper  gives  no  positive  proof  that  the 

1 "  Brother  Jonathan,  by  Albert  Matthews;  reprinted  from  the  publica 
tions  of  the  Colonial  Society  of  Massachusetts.  Cambridge,  1902." 


"BROTHER  JONATHAN"  327 

tradition  is  groundless;  and,  by  implication,  at 
least,  calls  for  positive  proof  that  it  is  founded  on 
fact.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  positive  proof,  either  in 
denial  or  affirmation  of  the  tradition,  is  out  of  the 
question.  The  earliest  affirmation  to  be  found  in 
print  is  in  1846,  and  the  only  denial  is  that  of  Mr. 
Matthews,  fifty-six  years  later. 

The  affirmation  of  the  tradition  appears'  in  the 
Norwich  [Conn.]  Evening  Courier  of  November  12, 
1846,  and  reads  thus: 

"The  following  account  of  the  Origin  of  the  term 
'Brother  Jonathan,9  as  applied  to  the  United  States, 
will,  no  doubt,  gratify  the  curiosity  of  a  multitude 
of  minds,  no  less  than  it  has  done  our  own.  It  is 
the  first  and  only  account  we  have  ever  seen  of  the 
origin  of  a  term  which  has  come  into  universal  use.1 
It  comes  to  us  through  a  friend  in  this  city,  from 
one  of  the  most  intelligent  gentlemen  and  sterling 
Whigs  of  Connecticut  —  a  gentleman  now  upwards 
of  80  years  of  age  —  himself  an  active  participator 
in  the  scenes  of  the  Revolution.  —  Ed.  Courier." 

"'BROTHER  JONATHAN'- -  ORIGIN  OF  THE  TERM 
AS  APPLIED  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"When  General  Washington,  after  being  ap 
pointed  Commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Revo 
lutionary  war,  came  to  Massachusetts  to  organize 
it,  and  make  preparation  for  the  defense  of  the 
Country,  he  found  great  destitution  of  ammunition 

XA  letter  once  in  possession  of  the  late  Charles  C.  Johnson  of  Norwich, 
in  reply  to  an  inquiry  made  by  his  father  to  an  old  citizen  in  the  vicinity,  states 
that  this  old  citizen  had  talked  with  men  of  Revolutionary  times,  who  told 
him  positively  that  the  title  was  in  general  use  and  originated  with  Washing 
ton. 


328  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

and  other  means,  necessary  to  meet  the  powerful 
foe  he  had  to  contend  with,  and  great  difficulty  to 
obtain  them.  If  attacked  in  such  condition,  the 
cause  at  once  might  be  hopeless.  On  one  occasion 
at  that  anxious  period,  a  consultation  of  the  officers 
and  others  was  had,  when  it  seemed  no  way  could 
be  devised  to  make  such  preparation  as  was  neces 
sary.  His  Excellency  Jonathan  Trumbull  the  elder, 
was  then  Governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  on 
whose  judgment  and  aid  the  General  placed  the 
greatest  reliance,  and  remarked,  We  must  consult 
'Brother  Jonathan'  on  the  subject.  The  General 
did  so,  and  the  Governor  was  successful  in  supply 
ing  many  of  the  wants  of  the  Army.  When  diffi 
culties  after  arose,  and  the  army  was  spread  over 
the  Country,  it  became  a  by-word,  cwe  must  consult 
Brother  Jonathan.'  The  term  Yankee  is  still  ap 
plied  to  a  portion,  but,  'Brother  Jonathan'  has 
now  become  a  designation  of  the  whole  country, 
as  John  Bull  has,  for  England." 

This  story  Mr.  Matthews  characterizes  as  "a 
newspaper  story  pure  and  simple;  a  story  unsup 
ported  by  one  iota  of  corroborating  evidence." 
With  him  it  is  a  question  of  etymology  with  which 
historians  and  biographers  have  to  deal.  If  we 
could  imagine  Governor  Trumbull  on  trial  for  his 
life,  on  the  charge  of  the  capital  crime  of  having 
been  called  Brother  Jonathan  by  General  Washing 
ton,  it  must  be  admitted  that  no  court  could  convict 
him  on  the  evidence  as  reported  in  the  Norwich 
Evening  Courier.  But  the  case  of  establishing  a 
tradition  is  hardly  similar;  and  it  must  be  said  that 


"BROTHER  JONATHAN"  329 

Mr.  Matthews  was  hardly  in  a  receptive  mood  for 
"corroborating  evidence "  at  the  time  of  writing 
his  paper.  His  aim  is  to  propound  a  theory  in  an 
impartial  spirit,  of  course,  as  all  theories  are  be 
lieved  by  their  authors  to  be  propounded.  He 
looks  for  some  allusion  to  the  designation  in  the 
Reverend  Zebulon  Ely's  "Sermon  preached  at  the 
Funeral  Solemnity  of  His  Excellency  Jonathan 
Trumbull  Esq.  LL.D.,"  and  utterly  ignores  the 
mention  in  that  sermon  relating  to  Washington's 
supposed  reception  of  the  news  of  the  death  of 
"his  brother  and  companion  in  the  late  struggles", 
perhaps  for  the  reason  that  a  funeral  sermon  does 
not  use  the  precise  term  Brother  Jonathan  for  the 
benefit  of  future  etymologists.  It  is  certainly 
hardly  dignified  enough  for  use  in  a  funeral  sermon, 
or  in  the  punctilious  official  correspondence  of  such 
a  man  as  Washington.  But  why  should  this  term 
brother  be  ignored  when  used  by  a  contemporary 
as  a  fitting  term  by  which  to  designate  the  relations 
between  Washington  and  Trumbull? 

Again,  when  the  term  in  full  is  found  in  use  at 
an  early  period  in  the  Revolution,  this  very  fact 
is  used  to  discredit  its  application.  This  occurs  in 
the  "Literary  Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles,  D.D.,  LL.D.," 
edited  by  Doctor  Franklin  B.  Dexter.  On  March 
21,  1776,  Doctor  Stiles,  then  at  Dighton,  recording 
the  evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British,  writes: 

"They  left  Bunker  Hill  Sdsday  Morning  i7th 
at  Eight  o'Clock,  leaving  Images  of  Hay  dressed 
like  Sentries  standing,  with  a  Label  on  the  Breast 
of  one,  inscribed  'Welcome,  Brother  Jonathan." 


330  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

It  is  admitted  by  Mr.  Matthews  that  the  dis 
covery  of  this  extract  modifies  certain  statements 
previously  made,  but  "does  not  appear  to  affect 
the  conclusions  in  this  paper."  Beyond  this,  it 
only  seems  necessary  to  him  to  quote  Doctor  Dexter's 
editoral  footnote,  which  reads  thus: 

'"The  use  of  this  phrase  by  the  British  at  this 
date  seems  to  prove  that  the  common  explanation 
of  its  origin  (with  reference  to  Washington's  con 
sultations  with  Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull)  can 
not  be  the  correct  one." 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Doctor  Stiles 
records  this  statement  apparently  from  hearsay; 
and  if  his  information  was  not  correct,  or  if  his 
memory  was  at  fault,  he  was  at  the  time  so  familiar 
with  the  term  "Brother  Jonathan"  that  he  had  no 
hesitation  in  adopting  it.  Assuming,  however,  that 
the  information  he  records,  at  a  distance  of  thirty- 
six  miles  from  the  scene,  was  correct,  why  should 
Doctor  Dexter,  seconded  by  Mr.  Matthews,  assert 
that  the  date  of  the  use  of  this  term  by  the  British, 
"seems  to  prove  that  the  common  explanation  of 
its  origin  cannot  be  the  correct  one?"  In  the  first 
place,  how  do  we  know  that  the  British  placed  the 
figures  at  Bunker  Hill;  and  if  they  did,  how  do  we 
know  that  they  placed  the  inscription  "Welcome, 
Brother  Jonathan"  on  one  of  them?  As  a  specimen 
of  British  humor  this  proceeding  of  the  badly  out 
generaled  British  in  this  instance  is  not  particularly 
striking.  The  inscription  would  be  more  appro 
priate  as  a  specimen  of  exultant  Yankee  irony. 
But  even  admitting  that  the  British  themselves  were 


"BROTHER  JONATHAN"  331 

the  authors  of  this  stupendous  joke,  why  does  that 
fact  discredit  our  Connecticut  tradition?  Going 
back  to  our  much  derided  newspaper  item  of  1846, 
we  find  it  stated  that  it  was  precisely  at  this  time, 
when  Washington  had  found  TrumbulPs  assistance 
so  valuable,  that  he  applied  to  him  this  much  dis 
cussed  sobriquet.  The  two  men  had  been  in  active 
correspondence  for  nine  months  at  the  tirr^e  when 
Doctor  Stiles  records  the  incident;  and  it  was  a 
gratifying  fact  to  the  Americans,  and  doubtless  a 
notorious  fact  to  the  British,  that  men  and  muni 
tions  of  war  had  been  pouring  in  from  Connecticut 
under  direction  of  her  rebel  Governor  —  the  only 
colonial  Governor  who  had  dared  to  be  a  rebel.  Even 
before  Washington  assumed  command,  he  well  knew 
that  Ticonderoga  had  been  captured  by  an  expedi 
tion  planned  in  Connecticut;  and  that  of  the  sixty- 
three  half-barrels  of  powder  which  the  Americans  used 
at  Bunker  Hill,  thirty-six  half-barrels  had  been  sent 
from  the  provident  little  State  with  a  rebel  Governor. 
The  time  of  the  evacuation  of  Boston  was  none  too 
early  for  Washington  to  feel  assured  that  he  had  in 
Connecticut  a  Brother  Jonathan  on  whom  he  could 
rely  in  time  of  need. 

The  intimate  and  confidential  nature  of  the  rela 
tions  between  Washington  and  Trumbull  are  not 
discussed  by  Mr.  Matthews,  probably  because  they 
form  only  presumptive  evidence  of  the  possibility 
that  Washington  might  have  used  the  term  brother 
in  its  full  significance  in  speaking  of  Trumbull. 
Certain  it  is  that  in  a  letter  of  condolence  Washing 
ton  signs  himself,  "Yours,  with  esteem  and  affec- 


332  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

tion."  But  references  to  such  relations  partake 
of  the  "unscientific"  method  which  Mr.  Matthews 
deplores,  and  the  temptation  to  discuss  his  view 
of  the  case  has  led  us  already  further  than  we  had 
intended  to  go.  If  we  are  to  insist  upon  direct 
evidence  of  every  event  in  history,  throwing  aside 
tradition  as  worthless,  many  incidents  of  Connec 
ticut  history  must  certainly  be  discredited;  as,  for 
example,  the  Charter  Oak  episode,  the,  silencing 
of  Governor  Benjamin  Fletcher  by  beating  the 
drums;  or  the  secret  debate  on  the  Stamp  Act; 
for  these  incidents  rest  solely  on  tradition.  And 
if  we  extend  our  researches  to  history  in  general, 
we  should  probably  find  it  alarming  to  know  how 
small  a  portion  of  its  statements  can  be  proved  by 
direct  evidence,  such  as  seems  to  be  called  for  to 
prove  the  authenticity  of  our  Brother  Jonathan 
tradition. 

From  a  merely  cold,  logical  view,  it  is  unimportant 
to  assert  this  tradition.  Governor  Trumbull's  record 
stands  unchanged  whether  Washington  did  or  did 
not  call  him  Brother  Jonathan.  And  yet,  from  a 
sentimental,  unscientific  point  of  view,  the  title 
bears  with  it  an  honor  which  is  worth  far  more  to 
such  an  American  as  Trumbull  than  any  order  of 
knighthood  ever  bestowed  by  royal  accolade.  Let 
us  be  sentimental,  then.  The  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  is  a  very  sentimental  document,  and 
patriotism  itself  is  a  sentiment,  pure  and  simple, 
and  "unscientific." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

CONTINUED       GOOD       HEALTH  —  SUDDEN       ILLNESS  — 
DEATH  —  HIS    PASTOR'S    ESTIMATE    OF    HIS    PERSONAL 

CHARACTER  —  WASHINGTON'S    TRIBUTE  TH£    TRUM- 

BULL   TOMB    AND    EPITAPH 

THERE  is  but  little  left  to  add  to  the  story 
of  this  long,  busy,  useful  life.  In  his 
retirement  it  must  be  believed  that  this 
good  old  man  found  much  comfort.  He  had  and 
improved,  first  of  all,  the  opportunity  which  he 
craved  for  calm  and  delightful  religious  medita 
tion  and  study.  Notwithstanding  the  tremen 
dous  strain  of  the  eight  years  of  war,  his  mental 
faculties  continued  unimpaired,  and  his  bodily  health 
remarkably  good  for  a  man  of  his  years  and  burdens. 
If  he  allowed  public  affairs  to  occupy  his  mind  to 
any  great  extent,  as  he  could  hardly  fail  to  do,  it 
must  have  been  with  grave  concern  that  he  regarded 
the  still  uncertain  condition  of  the  national  govern 
ment.  We  have  seen  his  eagerness  for  the  adoption 
of  the  articles  of  confederation  during  the  war; 
and  we  have  seen  his  strong  and  unqualified  plea 
for  a  suitable  federation  of  the  victorious  States. 
Thus  we  may  well  imagine  that  he  longed  to  see  the 
victory  made  effective  by  the  adoption  of  a  federal 
constitution  such  as  he  advocated. 

But  this  was  not  to  be :  he  did  not  live  to  see  the 

333 


334  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

victory  of  our  arms,  which  he  had  done  so  much  to 
promote,  crowned  by  the  establishing  of  a  stable 
form  of  republican  government.  He  had  only  an 
abiding  faith,  as  had  Washington,  that  this  would 
come  in  due  time,  and  this  was  his  consolation  for 
the  deferred  hope  of  the  adoption  of  a  federal  con 
stitution. 

Early  in  August,  1785,  he  was  prostrated  by  a 
fever  which  soon  assumed  what  was  then  called  a 
malignant  form.  For  twelve  days  the  toil-worn 
body  resisted  the  fatal  stroke  of  the  disease.  At 
last  complications  developed,  and  on  the  seventeenth 
of  August  he  reached  the  peaceful  end  of  his  life. 

It  is  recorded  in  the  family  Bible  by  his  son 
Jonathan  that  his  death  was  "easy,  quiet  and  calm", 
and  that  he  was  "in  possession  of  Reason  to  the 
last,  as  far  as  could  be  discovered." 

It  was  a  fitting  end  to  such  a  life :  no  gradual  loss 
of  the  faculties,  no  apparent  decline  even  of  the 
physical  powers.  The  active  mind  remained  ap 
parently  active  to  the  last,  and  the  worn  body  was 
spared  the  long  wasting  process  which  so  often 
renders  the  last  years  of  life  a  burden  to  the  aged 
sufferer.  He  felt  and  knew  that  his  life  work  was 
done;  and  for  more  than  a  year  he  had  been  calmly 
waiting  and  preparing  for  the  end. 

At  his  funeral,  on  the  nineteenth  of  August,  his 
pastor,  the  Reverend  Zebulon  Ely,  preached  an 
impressive  sermon,  from  the  text, 

"  So  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died  there  in 
the  land  of  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  the 
Lord"  (Deut.  34:5). 


HIS  PASTOR'S  APPRECIATION        335 

The  long  eulogy,  after  the  manner  of  the  time, 
has  the  ring  of  sincerity,  and  furnishes  the  fullest 
description  of  his  personal  character  which  can  be 
found  in  print.  After  an  eloquent  eulogy  on  his 
public  character  and  record,  Pastor  Ely  says: 

"As  a  man,  he  wonderfully  possessed  the  amiable 
grace  of  condescending  with  dignity;  the  charac 
teristic  of  true  greatness.  He  knew  how  toyadapt 
himself  to  persons  of  the  greatest  diversity  of  cir 
cumstances  and  conditions  of  life,  having  learned 
to  please  all  with  whom  he  conversed  to  their  edifica 
tion.  There  was  nothing  of  that  magisterial  loftiness 
and  ostentatious  parade,  too  often  attendant  on  men 
of  rank  and  elevated  stations  of  life.  We  may  with 
good  reason  conclude  he  became  so  eminent  and 
amiable  in  this  respect,  by  daily  contemplating 
the  perfect  deportment  of  his  Divine  Master;  who 
hath,  with  singular  propriety,  directed  us  to  learn 
of  him  being  meek  and  lowly. 

"His  temper  was  uncommonly  mild,  serene,  and 
cheerful;  his  words  weighty  and  instructive;  his 
speech  rather  low,  and  his  whole  carriage  graceful 
and  worthy.  His  constant  seasonable  attendance 
on  Divine  worship,  and  his  unaffected  devotion  in 
the  House  of  GOD,  were  most  beautiful. 

"As  a  parent,  he  was  affectionate,  venerable, 
and  endearing,  by  precept  and  example  carefully 
forming  the  minds  and  manners  of  his  offspring. 
As  a  neighbor  he  was  kind  and  obliging. 

"As  a  student,  he  was  exceedingly  careful  of 
precious  time,  diligent  and  indefatigable  in  his 
researches  after  truth,  'till  the  close  of  his  life.  His 


336  JONATHAN   rRUMBULL 

acquaintance  with  history  was  very  extensive,  and 
his  accuracy  in  chronology  unparallel'd. 

"But  his  chief  glory  (as  must  be  that  of  every 
man)  ariseth  from  his  truly  religious  and  pious 
character.  What  would  it  avail  that  we  view  him 
as  filling  the  most  dignified  office  in  the  republic, 
receiving  the  applause  of  his  country,  and  that  we 
hear  his  fame  echoed  from  European  shores,  could 
not  we  also  view  him  as  the  servant  of  the  LORD, 
born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh  nor 
of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  GOD.  What  would  it  avail 
us  that  we  view  him  as  one  accomplished  in  human 
erudition,  famous  as  a  linguist,  a  theologian,  a 
politician,  an  historian  and  chronologist ;  could  we 
not  also  contemplate  him,  as  one  who  gloried  in  the 
cross  of  CHRIST,  depending  alone  on  his  merits  for 
salvation,  acknowledging  all  that  to  which  he  had 
attained  to  be  wholly  of  grace,  and  accounting  them 
excellent  above  what  eye  hath  seen,  ear  heard,  or  the 
heart  of  man  conceived!" 

We  may  well  imagine  that  the  loss  of  such  a  man 
in  the  little  community  of  Lebanon  was  most  deeply 
felt.  Many  are  said  to  have  borne  testimony  to  his 
kindly,  neighborly  .ministrations  in  time  of  need ; 
and  all,  of  high  or  low  degree,  must  have  felt  for 
him  an  esteem  mingled  with  real  affection. 

It  is,  of  course,  natural  to  turn  from  the  genial, 
kindly  record  of  his  private  life  to  the  more  impor 
tant  and  imposing  record  of  his  public  life.  No 
more  fitting  testimonial  to  his  public  and  private 
life  can  be  found  than  in  the  words  of  Washington 
in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Trumbull's  son  Jonathan 


WASHINGTON'S  REGARD  337 

in    which    he    had    announced    the    death    of   his 
father: 

"Mount  Vernon,  Oct.  ist,  1785. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  It  so  happened  that  your  letter  of 
the  first  of  last  month  did  not  reach  me  until  Satur 
day's  post. 

"You  know  too  well  the  sincere  respect  and 
regard  I  entertained  for  your  venerable  *  father's 
public  and  private  character,  to  require  assurance 
of  the  concern  I  felt  for  his  death ;  or  of  that  sym 
pathy  in  your  feelings,  for  the  loss  of  him,  which  is 
prompted  by  friendship.  Under  this  loss,  however, 
great  as  your  feelings  must  have  been  at  the  first 
shock,  you  have  everything  to  console  you. 

"A  long  and  well-spent  life  in  the  service  of  his 
country  places  Governor  Trumbull  among  the  first 
of  patriots.  In  the  social  duties  he  yielded  to  no 
one;  and  his  lamp,  from  the  common  course  of 
nature,  being  nearly  extinguished,  worn  down  with 
age  and  cares,  yet  retaining  his  mental  faculties  in 
perfection,  are  blessings  which  rarely  attend  ad 
vanced  life.  All  these  combined,  have  secured  to 
his  memory  unusual  respect  and  love  here,  and, 
no  doubt,  unmeasurable  happiness  hereafter. 

"I  am  sensible  that  none  of  these  observations 
can  have  escaped  you,  that  I  can  offer  nothing 
which  your  own  reason  has  not  already  suggested 
upon  the  occasion;  and  being  of  Sterne's  opinion, 
that  '  before  an  affliction  is  digested,  consolation 
comes  too  soon,  and  after  it  is  digested  it  comes  too 
late,  there  is  but  a  mark  between  these  two,  al 
most  as  fine  as  a  hair,  for  a  comforter  to  take  aim 


338  JONATHAN   TRUMBULL 

at,9  I  rarely  attempt  it,  nor  should  I  add  more  on 
this  subject  to  you,  as  it  will  be  a  renewal  of  sorrow, 
by  calling  afresh  to  your  remembrance  things  that 
had  better  be  forgotten. 

"My  principal  pursuits  are  of  a  rural  nature,  in 
which  I  have  great  delight,  especially  as  I  am  blessed 
with  the  enjoyment  of  good  health.  Mrs.  Washing 
ton,  on  the  contrary,  is  hardly  ever  well ;  but  thank 
ful  for  your  kind  remembrance  of  her,  joins  me  in 
every  good  wish  for  you,  Mrs.  Trumbull,  and  your 
family. 

"Be  assured  that  with  sentiments  of  the  purest 
esteem, 

"I  am,  Dear  Sir, 
"Your  affectionate  friend 
"and  obedient  servant 
"G°  Washington." 

The  pilgrim  to  our  historic  towns,  when  visiting 
the  town  of  Lebanon,  will  find  among  its  beautiful 
hills  and  valleys  an  old  burial  ground  located  by  the 
side  of  the  main  thoroughfare.  Prominent  in  this 
burial  ground  is  the  Trumbull  family  tomb,  where 
the  hero  and  patriot  whose  life-story  has  been 
attempted  in  these  pages  was  laid  to  rest  a  century 
and  a  quarter  ago.  The  tomb  is  surmounted  by 
a  broken  shaft,  on  the  pedestal  of  which  may  still 
be  read,  in  small  and  slowly  perishing  letters,  the 
following  inscription: 

"Sacred  to  the  memory  of  JONATHAN  TRUMBULL, 
Esq.,  who,  unaided  by  birth  or  powerful  connections, 
but  blessed  with  a  noble  and  virtuous  mind,  arrived 
to  the  highest  station  in  government.  His  patriot- 


A  CLEAN  RECORD  339 

ism  and  firmness  during  50  years'  employment  in 
public  life,  and  particularly  in  the  very  important 
part  he  acted  in  the  American  Revolution,  as  Gov 
ernor  of  Connecticut,  the  faithful  page  of  History 
will  record. 

"Full  of  years  and  honors,  rich  in  benevolence, 
and  firm  in  the  faith  and  hopes  of  Christianity, 
he  died  August  I7th,  1785,  ^Etatis  75."  ' 

We  may  search  "the  faithful  page  of  History"  in 
vain  for  the  record  of  a  man  who  in  utter  self- 
forgetfulness,  in  earnest,  patriotic  devotion,  toiled 
less  for  personal  distinction  and  more  for  the  good 
of  a  righteous  cause  than  did  he.  Omitting  the 
customary  biographer's  summing  up  of  a  career 
and  estimate  of  a  character,  one  thing  may  be  said : 
he  gained  the  supreme  political  honor  of  the  present 
time  and  all  time  —  a  clean  record.  And  if  our 
poets  are  doing  anything  more  than  singing  a 
melodious  song  to  the  words  "The  path  of  duty 
is  the  way  to  glory",  there  is  glory  enough  at  the 
end  of  such  a  life  as  his  whose  epitaph  we  read  on  the 
old  tombstone  at  Lebanon;  for,  in  a  high  official 
position,  in  the  days  of  storm  and  stress,  he  never 
swerved  from  the  path  of  duty. 


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Quincy,  Josiah.  History  of  Harvard  University. 
2  Vols.  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1840. 

Robinson,  Edward.  Memoir  of  the  Reverend 
William  Robinson,  Formerly  Pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Southington,  Conn., 
with  Some  Account  of  his  Ancestors  in  this 
Country.  Privately  printed.  N.  Y.,  1859. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  345 

Rowe,  John.  Letters  and  Diary,  1759-1762;  1764- 
1779.  Boston,  1903. 

Sabine,  Lorenzo.  Biographical  Sketches  of  Loyalists  of 
the  American  Revolution.  2  Vols.  Boston,  1864. 

Sparks,  Jared.  The  Writings  of  George  Washing 
ton.  12  Vols.  Boston,  1837. 

Stiles,  Ezra.    Literary  Diary,  3  vols.     N.  Y.,  1901. 

Stuart,  Isaac  W.  Life  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Sen., 
Governor  of  Connecticut.  Boston,  1849. 

Townshend,  Charles  Hervey.  British  Invasion  of 
New  Haven,  Connecticut,  together  with  Some 
Account  of  their  Landing  and  Burning  the 
Towns  of  Fairfield  and  Norwalk,  July,  1779. 
New  Haven,  1879. 

Trumbull,  Benjamin,  D.  D.  Complete  History  of 
Connecticut,  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  ...  to 
the  year  1764.  2  Vols. 

Trumbull,  James  Hammond.  The  True-blue  Laws 
of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  and  the  False 
Blue-laws  Invented  by  the  Reverend  Samuel 
Peters.  Hartford,  1876. 

Trumbull,  Colonel  John.  Autobiography,  Reminis 
cences  and  Letters.  1841. 

Trumbull,  Jonathan.  Joseph  Trumbull,  the  First 
Commissary-general  of  the  Continental  Army. 
In  Records  and  Papers  of  the  New  London 
County  Historical  Society.  Vol.  2,  p.  329. 

The  Conflicting  Accounts  of  Tryon's  Invasion  of 
Norwalk.  In  Magazine  of  History.  Vol.  3,  p.  18. 

Trumbull,  Jonathan,  Ed.  The  Lebanon  War  Office. 
Hartford,  1891. 


346  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Tuckerman,  Bayard.    Life  of  General  Philip  Schuy- 

ler.    1733-1804.    N.  Y.,  1904. 
Weir,  John  F.    John  Trumbull;    a  Brief  Sketch  of 

his  Life,  to  Which  is  Added  a  Catalogue  of  his 

Works.    N.  Y.,  1901. 
Windham,  Conn.,  District  of.    Probate  Records. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ACADIANS,    EXILE    OF,    $2. 

"Act  for  the  Establishment  of 
Public  Credit  and  to  Provide  for 
the  Exigencies  of  this  State,"  262. 

Adams,  John,  consulted  by  Washing 
ton,  180;  in  Amsterdam,  275; 
letter  quoted,  151. 

Adams,  Samuel,  114. 

Admiral  Keppel,  capture  of,  241. 

Albany  Congress,  99;  failure  of,  53. 

Alden,  Elizabeth,  25. 

Alden,  John,  25. 

Allen,  Ethan,  leader  of  Green  Moun 
tain  boys,  153,  155. 

American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  326. 

Andre,  execution  of,  273. 

Apthorp,  Stephen,  merchant  (Bristol, 
England),  69. 

Armstrong,  General,  brutality  against 
Connecticut  settlers,  297. 

Arnold,  Benedict,  treachery  of,  265, 
272;  leads  expedition  for  New 
London,  280-282. 

Articles  of  Confederation,  245; 
adopted,  224,  294. 

Avery,  Elisha,  Deputy  Commissary, 
203,  204. 

BACKUS,  EUNICE,  30. 

Baron  Van  der  Capellan.     See  DERK. 

"Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  243. 

Belcher,   Jonathan,   Chief  Justice  of 

Superior  Court,  16. 
Belknap,  Doctor  Jeremy,  quoted,  94. 
Bennington,  battle  of,  212. 
Blackslee,  Abraham,  of  New  Haven 

(Tory),  135. 


Bliss,  John,  151. 

Booth  and  Lane  (London  merchants), 
64. 

Boston,  convention  at,  *266;  evacua 
tion  of,  183. 

Boston  Massacre,  113. 

Boston  Port  Bill,  119,  120,  121. 

Boston  Tea  Party,  116. 

Bowdoin,  Pitts  and  Flucker  (Boston 
merchants),  64. 

Braddock,  General,  defeat  of,  52. 

Brandywine,  battle  of,  212. 

Brewster  family,  6,  7. 

British  and  Hessian  soldiers  in 
Revolution,  250.  \ 

British  use  of  term  "Brother  Jona 
than,"  329,  330. 

British  warfare,  blot  on,  282. 

Brooklyn  Heights,  retreat  from,  197. 

"  Brother  Jonathan,"  legend  of  origin, 
326-332. 

Buckley,  John,  51. 

Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  158. 

Burgoyne,  defeat  of,  212;  surrender 
of,  212. 

Burke,  Edmund,  274. 

Bushnell,  David  (of  Saybrook),  in 
vention  of,  242-243;  made  cap 
tain,  243. 

Butler,  Colonel  Zebulon,  100. 

CAMDEN  EVACUATED,  279. 
Chad's  Ford,  battle  of,  217. 
Champion,  Colonel  Henry,  appointed 

purchaser  of  cattle,  225-226. 
Chandler,  Ellinor,  4. 
Charleston,    British    cooped    in,   279; 

fall  of,  265. 


349 


35° 


INDEX 


Chastellux,  Marquis  de,  277;  quoted, 
258. 

Cherry  Valley  massacre,  236. 

Church,  Benjamin,  classmate  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull,  16. 

Cincinnati,  Society  of,  300-301,  303. 

Clap,  Thomas,  President  of  Yale,  35. 

Clinton,  Sir  Henry,  265;  hoodwinked, 
280.- 

Colchester  provides  winter  quarters 
for  French  Hussars,  268. 

Collection  of  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  256. 

Colonial  Records  of  Connecticut,  185. 

Colt,  Peter,  Deputy  Commissary 
General,  226;  at  New  Haven,  250. 

Commissary  Department,  disorgan 
ized,  226,  227;  failure  to  pay,  260. 

Committee  of  Correspondence  and 
Enquiry  appointed,  117;  sends 
delegates  to  First  Continental 
Congress,  131. 

Connecticut  Courant,  89. 

Connecticut,  Colony  of,  activities  in 
Revolution,  181-182;  alarming 
situation  in,  251;  attitude  in  Rev 
olution,  153-154;  boundary  dis 
putes  with  Massachusetts,  50-52; 
called  State,  184;  calls  for  money, 
259;  capture  of  British  ships,  241, 
242;  church  government  in,  23-24; 
clergy  of,  121;  conditions  in,  23; 
conservatism  of,  116-117;  contri 
bution  to  French  War,  49;  con 
tribution  to  Revolution,  331;  course 
taken  with  Massachusetts,  143-151; 
court  records  quoted,  83-85;  dan 
ger  to,  from  sedition,  45-46;  Decla 
ration  of  Independence  of,  185; 
Declaration  quoted,  186-191;  dele 
gates  to  Second  Continental  Con 
gress,  137;  desertion  of  soldiers, 
168-169;  difficulty  in  filling  quo 
tas,  209;  drain  on  treasury,  208; 
encounter  with  Pennsylvanians, 


296-297;  enlistments  difficult,  265; 
enlistments  impeded  by  smallpox, 
198;  episodes  in  history  of,  332; 
equips  northern  fleet  on  Lake 
Champlain,  199;  Federalism  and 
State  Rights,  299,  312,  313;  first 
aggressive  act  of  Revolution,  153; 
first  invasion  by  British,  210; 
furnishes  men  in  Revolution,  158; 
161,  181;  furnishes  powder  in 
Revolution,  157;  Indian  affairs,  47; 
influences  at  work  in,  118;  issues 
bills  of  credit,  152;  issues  paper 
money,  263;  joins  in  capture  of 
Louisburg,  48;  lawsuits,  91-103; 
lays  taxes,  243-244,  262;  letter  to 
Provincial  Congress  of  Massachu 
setts,  154-155;  levies  troops,  161, 
179;  "Lighthorse"  regiment  dis 
banded,  195;  loan  to  French 
commissioner,  264;  locating  meet 
inghouses,  33;  men  in  service,  53; 
method  of  raising  money,  44-45; 
military  preparations,  134-135; 
money  problems,  243,  247-248; 
naval  affairs  in,  184-185,  192-193; 
naval  service,  242;  on  war  footing, 
35>  36>  37;  opens  negotiations  with 
General  Gage,  153;  parties  in,  77- 
78,  86-87;  party  lines  in,  82;  pays 
Governor  Trumbull,  319;  policy  of, 
104,  106;  prize  money,  242;  prob 
lems  of,  39;  provides  winter 
quarters  for  French  hussars,  268; 
question  of  officers'  half  pay,  299, 
300,318;  quota  lacking,  294;  quota 
maintained  at  maximum,  288;  raises 
nine  battalions,  185;  reimbursed  by 
England,  48,  49;  relations  with 
England,  73;  relieved  of  army,  226; 
religious  awakening,  30-31;  re 
sources  of,  259;  response  to  Massa 
chusetts'  call,  142-143,  152;  req 
uisitions  for  French  allies,  264; 
revision  of  statutes,  44;  sends  aid 


INDEX 


351 


Connecticut,  Colony  of,  (continued) 
to  Rhode  Island,  238;  sends  seven 
regiments  of  militia  to  New  York, 
192;  sends  ships'  carpenters  and 
supplies  to  New  York  and  Ver 
mont,  198-199;  sends  troops  to  Wy 
oming,  236;  services  in  New  York 
campaign,  197;  settlers  in  Wyoming 
Valley,  235,  236,  237;  share  in  pro 
visions  and  money  for  Revolution, 
263;  spirit  of,  120,  124;  struggle 
to  establish  rights,  8-9;  Susque- 
hanna  Case,  98,  100-103,  237, 
294-295;  taxed  by  Congress,  224; 
taxes  imposed  by,  108-109;  Tory 
element  in,  135-137;  town  meetings 
in,  121 ;  Twenty-first  Regiment 
sent  to  New  York,  197;  unhappy 
military  experience,  168-169;  uni~ 
que  position  of,  119;  unpaid 
farmers,  259-260;  wins  Mohegan 
Case,  98;  wins  Western  Reserve, 

101. 

"Connecticut  Currency,"  261  note. 

Continental  Army,  209,  211;  address 
to,  at  Newburgh,  312-313;  com 
missary  appointed,  171;  deficiencies 
in,  184;  early  days  of,  165;  in 
Canada,  185;  march  on  Yorktown, 
280;  munitions,  272-273;  on  verge 
of  mutiny,  259;  pay  of  officers  in, 
299-300;  reinforced  by  French 
troops,  264;  smallpox  in,  198; 
starving,  272;  term  of  enlistment, 
209. 

Continental  Congress,  advances  Gen 
eral  Putnam,  159;  appoints  com 
missioners  in  Susquehanna  Case, 
295;  appoints  Joseph  Trumbull 
commissary  general,  171;  appoints 
Washington  commander-in-chief, 
159;  calls  for  provisions,  263;  calls 
on  New  Jersey  for  Minute  Men, 
1 80;  contraction  of  currency,  261- 
262;  degrades  Generals  Spencer 


and  Wooster,  159;  driven  from 
Philadelphia,  312;  First,  131,  135; 
incompetence  of,  179,  180,  299, 
313;  opens,  155;  ratifies  treaty 
alliance  with  France,  231;  reorgan 
izes  Commissary  Department,  226- 
227;  Second,  137;  sends  Governor 
Franklin  to  Governor  Trumbull  for 
parole,  192. 

Continental  money,  decline  in  value, 
261.  ' 

Convention  of  New  Jersey,  192. 

Conway  cabal,  213-219,  241. 

Copley,  John  Singleton,  275. 

Cornwallis,  surrender  of,  283,  294,  298. 

Corny,  Louis  Dominique  Ethis  de, 
loan  to,  264. 

Council  of  Censors  of  Pennsylvania, 
297. 

Council  of  Safety,  discusses  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  191;  fur 
nishes  supplies  to  Valley  Forge, 
225-226;  grants  money  for  enter 
tainment,  270;  importance  of,  157; 
meetings,  156,  157,  158,  184; 
members  of,  156;  orders  powder 
forwarded  to  Massachusetts,  157; 
paroles  Doctor  Johnson,  254;  rec 
ords  of,  157-158;  strengthens 
defence  of  New  London,  251. 

Cowpens,  victory  at,  279. 

Crane,  row-galley,  185;  built  at 
Haddum,  192. 

Currency,  change  in,  65. 

Cyrus,  capture  of,  241. 

DAGGET,  DOCTOR  NAPHTALI  (Presi 
dent  of  Yale),  250. 

Danbury,  awarded  by  British,  2IO, 
21 1 ;  military  camp  at,  278. 

Danielson,  Timothy,  151. 

Dartmouth  College,  62. 

Dartmouth,  Earl  of,  issues  mandate, 
137,  138;  Governor  TrumbiuTs 
letter  to,  138-141. 


352 


INDEX 


Davis,  Captain  (of  Brimfield),  tarred 
and  feathered,  123. 

Deane,  Silas,  delegate  to  first  Con 
tinental  Congress,  131;  corre 
spondence  with  Governor  Trum- 
bull,  245-246,  287-288. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  191. 

Declaratory  Act,  80. 

Defence,  Connecticut  brig,  48,  193, 
241. 

Derk,  John  (Baron  Van  der  Capellan), 
255;  a  friend  of  America,  255; 
correspondence  with  Governor 
Trumbull,  256,  257;  secures  loan 
to  America,  256. 

D'Estaing,  Admiral,  at  Rhode  Island, 
237,  238. 

Dexter,  Doctor  Franklin,  editor,  329, 
330. 

Dibble,    Filer,    of   Stamford    (Tory), 

135- 

Dixon,  Edward,  of  St.  Kitts,  England, 
69,  70. 

Dolbeare,  Benjamin  (Boston  mer 
chant),  64. 

Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  6,  7. 

Drake  family,  6,  7. 

Dudley,  Joseph,  92. 

Duportail,  General,  at  Weathersfield 
conference,  277. 

Dyer,  Amelia,  married  Joseph  Trum 
bull,  29,  233. 

Dyer,  Eliphalet,  77,  156;  delegate  to 
First  Continental  Congress,  131. 

EDSON,  JOSIAH,  fate  of,  17. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  warnings  of,  30. 

Eels,  Reverend  Nathaniel,  at  Lexing 
ton,  18. 

Elderkin,  Jedediah,  156;  appointed 
to  provide  barracks,  268. 

Eliot,  Samuel,  Jr.,  letter  quoted,  241- 
242. 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  312;  writes  to 
Governor  Trumbull,  262. 


Ely,  Reverend  Zebulon,  198;   quoted, 

325. 
Enfield,  transferred  to  Massachusetts, 

50,51- 
England,  financial  condition  of,  261; 

policy  towards  America,  49,  73-76, 

92,  95,  102,  112-113,  227,  230;  task 

of   making    peace,    299.     See    also 

BRITISH. 

Eutaw  Springs,  battle  of,  279. 
Evening    Courier    (Norwich),    quoted, 

327-328. 
Eyre,  Colonel,  at  Fort  Griswold,  281. 

FAIRFIELD,  RAID  ON,  249,  250,  252. 
Farmington,  burns  Port  Bill,  121. 
Fenwick,  Colonel,  legacy  of,  102. 
Fitch,     Colonel     Eleazer,     Governor 

Trumbull's  partner,  65,  66. 
Fitch,  Governor  Thomas,  44,  53,  59, 

77-78,  79,  87,  90. 
Flour,  cost  of,  247-248. 
Fort  Griswold,  massacre  at,  280-282. 
Fort    Ticonderoga,    capture    of,    153, 

155;    evacuation   of,   211;     proved 

untenable,  175. 

Fort  Trumbull,  retreat  from,  280. 
Foster,    Jedediah,   on   Massachusetts 

committee,  151. 

Fowler,  Judge  Jonathan  (Tory),  166. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  274. 
France,  war  with,  35,  36,  40,  47,  52, 

66. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  76,  232;    remark 

of,  212. 
Franklin,  Governor  William,  case  of, 

192. 

Frazier,  Champion  and  Hawley,  304. 
French    allies,    blockaded    at    Brest, 

266;   blockaded  at  Newport,  266. 

GAGE,  GOVERNOR  THOMAS  (Tory), 
118,  119,  122,  147;  correspondence 
with  Governor  Trumbull,  144-147, 
148-150. 


INDEX 


353 


Garth,  General  George,  in  raid  on 
New  Haven,  249;  in  raid  on  Nor- 
walk,  251. 

Gaspee,  affair  of  schooner,  1 16. 

Gates,  General,  entertainment  at 
Hartford,  241;  inefficiency  of, 
266,  272;  influence  on  Jonathan 
Trumbull,  Jr.,  216;  intrigues  of, 
208;  scheme  against  Schuyler,  200; 
share  in  Conway  cabal,  241;  super 
sedes  Schuyler,  212. 

Gay,  Ebenezer,  on  committee,  43. 

Gazette  (Rivington's),  137;  sup 
pressed,  166-167. 

General  Assembly  of  Connecticut, 
act  on  Governor's  farewell  address, 
313-314;  action  in  regulation  of 
prices,  224;  action  on  Boston  Port 
Bill,  120;  action  on  Writs  of  Assist 
ance,  84;  adopts  Articles  of  Con 
federation,  224;  adopts  Governor 
Trumbull's  letter  to  Silas  Deane, 
287;  adopts  title  of  "His  Excel 
lency"  for  Governor,  220;  appoints 
Committee  of  Correspondence  and 
Enquiry,  117;  appoints  Council 
of  Safety,  156;  appoints  meeting 
houses,  33;  discussion  of  Stamp  Act, 
75-76;  elects  Griswold  governor, 
317;  elects  Trumbull  governor,  81, 
86,  89,  288,  300;  instructions  to  dele 
gates  at  Congress,  300;  instructs 
delegates  to  declare  for  independ 
ence,  185;  investigation  of  story 
against  Governor  Trumbull,  293; 
mobilizes  troops,  153;  passes  act 
favoring  collection  of  imposts,  318; 
passes  act  for  establishment  of  pub 
lic  credit,  262;  passes  act  regard 
ing  duties  on  imports,  299;  peti 
tions  to,  50,  51,  56;  places  embargo 
on  exportations,  143;  preparations 
for  war,  36,  134,  152;  quoted, 
46-47,  53;  records  of,  184,  185; 
repeals  tax,  in;  resolutions  quoted, 


314-315,  270-271;  seeks  charter 
rights,  101-102;  sends  delegates  to 
Stamp  Act  Congress,  76;  sessions 
of,  42,  43;  special  act  of,  44;  taxes 
laid,  255. 

General  Committee  of  City  and 
County  of  New  York,  167-168. 

Germaine,  Lord  George,  227,  273. 

Germantown,  battle  of,  212. 

Governor  of  Grenada,  West  Indies,  69. 

Governor's  Council,  policy  toward 
home  government,  106;  resolu 
tions  adopted,  120;  Trumbull 
elected  to,  36  ;  votes  to  provide 
supplies,  134. 

Great  Awakening  in  Connecticut, 
30-31- 

Green,  Francis  (Tory),  167;  treat 
ment  of,  121-122. 

Green,  Thomas  (Tory),  anecdote  of, 
121-123. 

Green  and  Walker  (Boston  mer 
chants),  64. 

Greene,  General,  278;  appeals  for 
money,  265;  march  to  Eutaw 
Springs,  279;  military  genius  of, 
277;  victories  in  South,  284. 

Greene,  Governor,  asks  aid,  237,  238. 

Groton,  burning  of,  282;  relief  of 
inhabitants,  283. 

Griswold,  Matthew,  Deputy  Gov 
ernor,  156,  225,  312;  elected 
governor,  317. 

Guilford,  controversy  in,  23. 

Guilford  Court  House,  victory  at,  279. 

HAY,  PRICE  OF,  247. 

Hale,  Nathan,  patriotism  of,  197. 

Hall,    Colonel    Benjamin,    appointed 

commissioner,  51. 
Harlem  Heights,  battle  of,  197. 
Hartford,  convention  at,  266,  270. 
Harvard,  courses  at,  13;    influence  of, 

18;    registration  custom  at,   11-12, 

60,  61. 


354 


INDEX 


Heath,  General  William,  251,  282;  in 

New  York,  279. 

Hempstead,  Joshua,  diary  of,  42. 
Higley,  Hannah  (mother  of  Governor 

Trumbull),  lineage,  5-7,  60;   death, 

91- 

Higley,  Hannah  (Drake)  (grand 
mother  of  Governor  Trumbull), 

5-6;    ancestry  of,  6-7. 
Higley,  John,  5;   early  days  of,  6. 
"History  of  Connecticut,"  126. 
"History  of  Jonathan  Trumbull,  the 

Rebel  Governor",  128,  129;  quoted, 

129-130. 
"History  of  New  England,"  by  Miss 

Caulkins,  116  note. 
"  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 

States  from  the  Revolution  to  the 

Civil  War,"  297. 
Hillsborough,    Lord,    106,    107,    109, 

in,    112;    in   Mohegan   Case,  96; 

made  Secretary  of  State,  104. 
Hoadley,  Doctor  Charles  J.,  186. 
Holland,  loan  to  America,  255-256. 
Hopkins,  Governor,  legacy  of,  102. 
Horseneck,  salt  works  at,  249. 
Hubbard,  Nehemiah,  quartermaster, 

270. 
Hull,  Mr.,  Collector  of  Customs,  55, 

56,73- 

Huntington,  Benjamin,  156. 

Huntington,  Jabez,  156. 

Huntington,  General  Jedediah,  letter 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  214-216. 

Huntington,  Hezekiah,  of  Nor 
wich,  66. 

Huntington,  Joseph,  Reverend,  elec 
tion  sermon,  317. 

Huntington,  Governor  Samuel,  35, 
156. 

Huntington,  Long  Island,  English 
fleet  at,  250. 

Hutchinson,  Judge  Eliakim,  at  Har 
vard,  17. 

Hutchinson,  Thomas  (Chief  Justice), 


41,  101;  grants  Writs  of  Assistance, 
41,  73,  82;  letter  quoted,  95; 
rank  in  Harvard,  15-16;  Tory 
sympathies,  118,  121. 

INDIAN  SCHOOL  AT  LEBANON,  62. 
Ingersoll,    Jared,    Connecticut    agent 
at  London,  57,  59,  76. 

JACKSON,  RICHARD,  Connecticut  agent 
in  England,  68,  83,  93. 

Johnson,  Henry  (Boston  merchant), 
64. 

Johnson,  Reverend  Stephen,  of  Lyme, 
77- 

Johnson,  William  Samuel,  ambassador 
to  General  Gage,  147,  252;  arrest 
of,  252,  253;  attorney  in  Mohegan 
Case,  93-98,  102,  103,  104,  105, 
112,  143;  counsel  in  Susquehanna 
Case,  254;  delegate  to  constitu 
tional  convention,  254;  examina 
tion  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  Dimon, 
253;  intercession  with  General 
Tryon,  252;  letters  quoted,  83, 
86,  96,  105-106,  106-107,  107-108, 
109,  113,  295,  312;  meets  Governor 
Trumbull,  253-254;  neutral  in 
Revolution,  252;  paroled,  253,  254. 

KENT,  BENJAMIN,  classmate  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull,  18. 

Kneeland,  William,  President  of  Har 
vard,  letter  to  Governor  Trumbull, 

I73-I74- 

Knowlton,  death  of,  197. 

Knox,  General,  at  Weathersfield  con 
ference,  277;  sent  to  New  England, 
273- 

LAFAYETTE,  MARQUIS  DE,  reception 

to,  270. 

Lake  Champlain,  navy  at,  199. 
Lane,    Booth    and  Frazier,  Governor 

Trumbull's  letter  to,  71. 
Lane,     Son    and     Fraser,     Governor 

Trumbull's  letter  to,  324-325. 


INDEX 


355 


Laurens,  Henry,  President  of  Con 
tinental  Congress,  256;  corre 
spondence  with  Governor  Trumbull, 
233-234,  237,  240,  244. 

Laurens,  Colonel  John,  240,  241. 

Lauzun,  Due  de,  memoirs  of,  268. 

Lea,  J.  Henry,  researches  of,  4. 

Lebanon,  Connecticut,  attitude 
towards  Port  Bill,  121;  Council  of 
Safety  meeting  in,  156-157;  elects 
Jonathan  Trumbull  delegate  to 
General  Assembly,  24,  32;  fair 
and  market  in,  62;  French  troops 
in,  268-269;  growth  of,  8;  home 
of  Governor  Trumbull,  15;  im 
portance  of,  157;  Indian  school  at, 
62;  lack  of  schools  in,  9;  library 
in,  34-35;  meetinghouse  war  in, 
9,  23;  recognized  by  General 
Assembly,  7,  19;  social  equality  in, 
n,  12;  themes  of  discussion  in, 
20;  Tisdale  school  in,  61;  Trum 
bull  family  settles  in,  7;  Trumbull 
family  tomb  in,  338-339;  Trum 
bull  (Governor's)  interest  in,  63. 

Ledyard,  John,  of  Hartford,  66. 

Ledyard,  Colonel  William,  death  at 
Fort  Griswold,  281. 

Lee,  General  Charles,  180,  181,  231; 
capture  of,  207;  incompetence  of, 
179,  1 80. 

Leeter,  Governor  William,  87. 

Leffingwell,  Christopher,  paper  mill 
of,  in,  117. 

Leverett,  President  (of  Harvard),  12. 

Lexington,  fight  at,  114,  142. 

Leyden,  Doctor  John,  quoted,  2. 

Liberty,  British  revenue  sloop,  113, 
116. 

"Life  of  Trumbull,"  225  note. 

"Literary  Diary  of  Ezra  Stiles,  D.D., 
LL.D."  quoted,  329,  330. 

Livingston,  Walter,  commissary  of 
northern  army,  203,  204. 

Long  Island,  battle  at,  197. 


Long  Island  Sound  patrolled,  193. 

Loudoun,  Earl  of,  54. 

Louisburg,  capture  of,  47,  49. 

Loyalist  Party,  166. 

"Loyalists  of  American  Revolution," 

79- 
Luzerne,  Chevalier  Anne-Cesar  de  la, 

minister    from    France    to    United 

States,    257;     letter    to    Governor 

Trumbull,  263. 
Lyman,    General    PhinVas,    40,    53; 

victory  of,  52. 

MASSACHUSETTS,  boundary  disputes 
with  Connecticut,  50-52;  letter 
to  Connecticut,  150;  political  par 
ties  in,  i.i  8;  Loyalists,  166;  (Tories, 
166);  Provincial  Congress  of,  143, 
147;  sends  committee  to  Connec 
ticut,  150. 

Mason  family  (in  Mohegan  Case),  92, 
93  >  96,  97- 

Matthews,  Albert,  pamphlet  of,  326- 
327,328,329,330,331. 

"McFingal,"  5,  17. 

Meetinghouse  war,  9;  truce  in,  23. 

Meigs,  Colonel  Return  Jonathan, 
raid  on  Sag  Harbor,  211. 

Middletown,  convention  in,  313,  316; 
lead  mines  in,  161,  184;  sail  cloth 
and  cordage  from,  199. 

Mitchell,  Donald  G.,  quoted,  269. 

Mohegan  Case,  9,  47,  83,  91,  92-98, 
104. 

Money,  value  of  Continental,  261. 

Moore,  Hannah,  7. 

Moore,  Deacon  John,  7. 

Moore  family,  7. 

Morgan's  rifle  corps  at  Wyoming,  236. 

Mott,   Captain   Edward   of  Preston, 


Nebuchadnezzar,  ship,  56,  57. 
Neufville,    John    de,    and    Sons,    of 
Amsterdam,  274,  275,  304. 


356 


INDEX 


Newcastle-on-Tyne,  4. 

New  Haven,  raid  on,  249-250,  251. 

New  London,  238;  Arnold's  expedi 
tion  against,  280;  relief  of  inhabi 
tants,  283. 

New  London  Gazette,  77,  127. 

Newton,  resolution  of,  136. 

New  York,  military  operations  in, 
i%3\.  :94>  J97>  political  parties  in, 
118-119. 

Niles,  Robert,  captain  of  the  Spy, 
231-232. 

Norwalk,  raid  on,  249,  250-251,  252. 

Norwich,  121 ;  attitude  towards  Port 
Bill,  121. 

"OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  SEVERAL 
COMMANDERS  OF  THE  SHIP  CON 
NECTICUT,"  ballad,  88-89. 

Occum,  Samson,  Indian  preacher,  62, 
96. 

Ogden,  Captain  Amos,  ico. 

Oliver,  Andrew,  4,  17. 

Oliver,  Peter,  Chief  Justice  of  Massa 
chusetts,  17. 

Oliver  Cromwell,  warship,  241. 

Oriskany,  battle  of,  212. 

Otis,  James,  82. 

Oyster  Bay,  180. 

PABODIE,  PRISCILLA,  26. 

Pabodie,  William,  25. 

Parliament,  British,  112;  colonial 
policy  of,  74-75;  oppressive  mea 
sures,  118;  passes  bill  abolishing 
taxes,  230. 

Parsons,  Reverend  Joseph,  8. 

Parsons,  General  Samuel,  158,  251.     . 

Patterson,  Justice,  brutality  against 
Connecticut  settlers,  296-297. 

Penn,  William,  heirs  of,  98-99,  102. 

Pennamite  Wars  (in  Wyoming  Valley), 
99,  100,  101,  103. 

Pennsylvania  troops,  outrages  of, 
296-297. 


Pepperrell,  General,  made  baronet, 
48. 

Pequot  War,  Lion  Gardiner's  account 
of,  98. 

Peters,  Reverend  Samuel,  324;  action 
on  Port  Bill,  125-126;  case  of, 
125-128,  129,  131;  flees  to  England, 
129;  published  "History  of  Jona 
than  Trumbull,"  128,  129;  visited 
by  Windham  mobs,  126-129. 

Philadelphia,  occupation  by  British, 
212. 

Philagrammatican  Library  at  Leb 
anon,  34. 

Philiphaugh,  Scotland,  I. 

Pitcher,  Reverend  Nathaniel,  quoted, 
28. 

Pitkin,  Governor,  79,  81,  87;  letter 
of,  106;  letter  to,  105-106. 

Political  Magazine,  129,  324. 

Porter,  Colonel  Elisha,  148. 

Princeton,  battle  of,  207. 

Providence,  Rhode  Island,  237. 

Provincial  Congress  of  New  York, 
authority  of,  180-181. 

Putnam  General  Israel,  142,  147- 
148,  203;  at  battle  of  Long  Island, 
197;  famous  ride  to  Stratford,  249; 
promoted,  159. 

QUINCY,     SR.,  JOSIAH,  18. 
Quintard,  Isaac  (Tory,  of  Stamford), 
135- 

"RESOLVES  OF  THE  TOWN  OF 
HEBRON,"  127. 

Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  274. 

Rhode  Island,  famine  in,  259;  poli 
tical  parties  in,  118. 

Ridgefield,  Connecticut,  fight  at, 
136,  210;  vote  of,  136. 

Rivington,  James,  paper  of,  sup 
pressed,  166-167. 

Robinson,  Faith,  60;  ancestry,  25-26; 
death,  266;  character,  28-29,  J?^, 


INDEX 


357 


Robinson,  Faith    (continued} 

266;  father  of,  27-28;  inscription 
on  tombstone,  268;  marriage  to 
Governor  Trumbull,  5,  25;  mother 
of,  26,  28. 

Robinson,  John,  26;  character  of,  27. 

Rochambeau,  General,  at  Weathers- 
field  conference,  277;  reception  to, 
270. 

Rowley,  Massachusetts,  4. 

Rule  Water,  Scotland,  I. 

SAG  HARBOR,  raid  on,  211. 

Salisbury  iron  mine,  117,  199. 

Saltonstall,  Colonel  Gurdon,  55,  56. 

San  Jose  y  Santa  Elena,  Case  of,  55* 

San  Juan,  Don  Jose  Miguel  de,  56,  57. 

Saybrook,  man-of-war  built  at,  184. 

Schuyler,  General,  authority  of,  203; 
correspondence  with  Governor 
Trumbull,  198-199,  200-201,  201- 
202,  205;  demands  on  Governor 
Trumbull,  198;  Gates'  scheming 
against,  200,  203,  204;  local 
jealousy  of,  200,  201,  206;  position 
of,  208;  relations  with  Governor 
Trumbull,  198,  204,  205;  super 
seded,  212. 

Seabury,  Bishop  Samuel,  108,  166. 

Sears,  Isaac,  expedition  to  suppress 
The  Gazette,  166-167. 

Shark,  row-galley  built  at  Norwich, 
184,  193. 

Shaw,  Nathaniel,  of  New  London, 
116. 

Sherman,  Roger,  312;  delegate  to 
Continental  Congress,  131;  re 
organizes  Treasury  Department, 
244;  secures  ammunition,  134. 

Shirley,  Governor,  of  Massachusetts, 
scheme  to  capture  Louisburg,  47, 
48-49. 

Simsbury,  5,  6,  7. 

Somers,  Massachusetts,  50,  51. 

"  Sons  of  Liberty,"  76,  88. 


Spain,  war  with,  35,  36. 

Sparrow,  Samuel,  London  merchant, 
64. 

Spencer,  General  Joseph,  158,  166; 
degraded  by  Congress,  159;  letter 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  123-124; 
ordered  to  New  London,  282. 

Springfield,  Massachusetts,  52. 

Spy,  schooner,  carries  treaty  to 
France,  231-232. 

Stamp  Act,  disturbance^  concerning, 
70,  76-80;  pamphlet  about,  76. 

Steele,  Judge  Thomas,  17. 

Steuben,  Baron,  calls  for  arms,  265. 

Stewart,  Duncan,  Collector  of  Cus 
toms,  75,  82,  83,  106,  109. 

Stiles,  President  (Yale),  326,  330,  331; 
asks  for  flour,  248;  correspondence 
with  Governor  Trumbull,  325. 

Suffield,  5;  transferred  to  Massa 
chusetts,  50,  51. 

Sullivan,  General,  in  Rhode  Island 
campaign,  237,  238,  239. 

Sullivan's  Indian  campaign,  236. 

Susquehanna  Case,  91,  98-103,  104, 
23  5 >  237,  294-295. 

TERNAY,  ADMIRAL,  reception  to,  270. 

Thompson,  Benjamin  (Count  Rum- 
ford),  273. 

Throop,  William,  25. 

Tisdale,  Nathan,  school  of,  61. 

Tories,  166;  in  Wyoming  Massacre, 
236;  treatment  of,  121,  135. 

Town  meetings  begin,  121. 

Townshend  revenue  acts,  106,  117. 

Treaty  of  Peace  (England  and 
United  States),  303-304. 

Trenton,  battle  of,  207,  208. 

Triton,  man-of-war,  57. 

Trowbridge,  Edmund,  Judge  of  Su 
perior  Court  of  Massachusetts,  16- 

17- 

Trumble,  Fitch  and  Trumble,  64-65; 
firm  dissolved,  70. 


358 


INDEX 


Trumbull,  Rev,  Benjamin  (historian), 

5t  257- 

Trumbull,  Benoni,  5. 

Trumbull,  David  (brother  of  Govern 
or  Trumbull),  death  of,  37. 

Trumbull,  David  (son  of  Governor 
Trumbull),  30,  60;  appointed  to 
provide  barracks,  268;  education, 
61;  in  Windham  mobs,  128;  posi 
tion  in  Lebanon,  63;  services  in 
Revolution,  172-173,  184. 

Trumbull,  Faith  (daughter  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull),  30;  death  of,  176; 
married  General  Jedediah  Hunting- 
ton,  30,  176. 

Trumbull,  Faith  Robinson  (wife  of 
Governor  Trumbull).  See  ROBIN 
SON. 

Trumbull,  Doctor  J.  Hammond,  3; 
quoted,  125,  128. 

Trumbull,  John,  first  American,  4,  5. 

Trumbull,  John  (lawyer-poet),  5. 

Trumbull,  Colonel  John  (son  of 
Governor  Trumbull),  29,  30;  aide 
to  General  Sullivan,  239;  arrested 
in  London,  273-274;  attempts  to 
negotiate  loan,  275;  autobiography 
quoted,  61,  70-77,  239,  273,  275- 
276;  birth,  33,  60;  career,  176, 
241;  charter  member  of  the  Cincin 
nati,  303;  embarks  for  home,  275; 
encouraged  by  Benjamin  West,  175; 
goes  to  London,  175;  important 
services,  174-175;  in  commissary 
department,  275;  military  life, 
174-175;  paintings,  176;  relations 
with  General  Schuyler,  203,  205; 
released  from  arrest  and  goes  to 
Amsterdam,  274;  resumes  career 
as  artist,  275;  serious  illness,  275; 
taste  for  drawing,  173-174. 

Trumbull,  Jonathan,  Governor,  ac 
quaintance  with  Frenchmen,  269- 
270;  activity  in  Revolution,  134, 
182,  184,  194;  address  to  General 


Assembly  quoted,  220-221,  291-293, 
304-312;  adjustment  of  ecclesias 
tical  affairs,  43;  admiration  of 
Pitt  and  Wolfe,  40;  ancestry,  1-8; 
appearance,  33,  130-131;  ap 
pointed  Justice  of  Peace,  34;  ap 
pointed  to  special  committee,  33, 
34;  arrest  of  son  John,  273-274; 
at  Danbury,  278,  279;  attendance 
at  General  Assembly,  222;  ballad 
about,  87-89;  becomes  merchant 
farmer,  21;  birth,  8;  boyhood, 
9-11;  business  ventures,  38,  64- 
72,  81;  cares  and  responsibilities, 
198;  character,  3-4,  38,  39,  219, 
220;  Chief  Justice  of  Superior 
Courts,  38;  Chief  Naval  Officer  of 
Connecticut,  152;  children,  29,  30; 
chosen  profession,  325;  clash  with 
Governor  Fitch,  78-79;  classmates, 
15-18;  comfort  in  private  life,  333; 
commissioned  Lieutenant  Colonel, 
34,  Lieutenant  in  Troop  of  Horse, 
25;  commissioner  on  Spanish  ship 
controversy,  56-57,  on  boundary 
committee,  51;  condemns  violence, 
124,  135;  condolences  to,  207,  267; 
correspondence  with  Baron  Van  der 
Capellan,  256,  257,  with  Connec 
ticut  delegates,  244,  245-246,  260, 
with  Deane  (Silas),  245-246,  287- 
288,  with  Huntington  (Samuel), 
260,  with  Laurens  (Henry),  233- 
234,  237,  240,  244,  with  Schuyler 
(General),  198-199,  200-201,  201- 
202,  205,  with  Tryon  (Governor), 
227-230,  with  Washington  (Gen 
eral),  159,  160-161,  162-165,  J68- 
169,  181,  182-183,  193,  195,  196, 
207-208,  209-210,  212,  218-219, 
224,  225,  232-233,  236,  239,  259, 
260-261,  264,  267,  276-277,  278, 
285-286,  301-302,  320-322;  death 
of,  334;  death  of  father,  59,  60; 
death  of  mother,  91;  death  of  son 


INDEX 


359 


Trumbull,  Jonathan,  Gov.  (continued) 
Joseph,  233,  235,  237;  death  of 
wife,  266;  declines  appointment  to 
London,  58;  declines  call  to  Col 
chester  church,  21 ;  degrees  re 
ceived,  325-326;  delicate  situation 
regarding  Doctor  Johnson,  252, 
253;  delegate  to  General  As 
sembly,  24,  25,  32,  to  Stamp  Act 
Congress,  76,  to  Massachusetts,  48; 
demands  on,  264-265;  Deputy 
Governor,  38,  79,  81;  diplomacy, 
199;  disapproves  of  title,  219-221; 
documents  left,  245;  draws  first 
bill,  45-46;  education,  9-10,  12-13; 
effect  on  political  turmoil,  316; 
elected  Assistant,  38,  governor, 
39,  72,  294,  Speaker  of  House  of 
Representatives,  34,  38;  end  of 
public  record,  319;  enters  Harvard, 
n;  financial  affairs,  318,  270-271, 
304  (see  also  business  ventures); 
first  firm,  64;  foreign  connections, 
64,  65,  69,  77;  funeral  sermon, 
quoted,  334,  335~3S6;  graduates 
from  Harvard,  15;  health,  222, 
224,  227,  333,  334;  honorary 
member  of  the  Cincinnati,  303; 
hopefulness,  266;  ingratitude  of 
public  toward,  288-290;  inheri 
tance,  60;  interest  in  home  in 
dustries,  117;  interest  in  Lebanon, 
62-63;  journals,  32;  Judge  of 
Probate,  38;  Judge  of  Windham 
County  Court,  38;  known  as 
"rebel  governor,"  324,  331;  last 
year  of  office,  303;  letters  to  credi 
tors,  71,  to  Earl  of  Dartmouth, 
138-141,  144,  to  Gage  (General), 
144-147,  to  Huntington  (General), 
176-177,  to  General  Assembly, 
58-59,  to  Johnson  (William  Sam 
uel),  84-85,  107,  109-110,  in, 
to  Lane,  Son  and  Frazier,  324-325 
(see  also  correspondence),  to  Pro 


vincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts, 
151;  legislative  duties,  37;  licensed 
to  preach,  20;  loans  manuscripts  to 
Chevalier  de  Luzerne,  257;  marriage 
to  Faith  Robinson,  25;  message  to 
General  Assembly,  222,  224;  mili 
tary  service,  41;  on  Governor's 
Council,  36;  on  war  commissions, 
53-54;  opinion  of  Washington, 
218;  orders  detention  of  vessels, 
193, 194, 195-197;  plaftis  to  write  his 
tory  of  Revolution,  257;  political 
duties,  42-43;  political  movement 
against,  288-290;  political  prin 
ciples,  18-19;  preparation  for  min 
istry,  19;  preparation  for  war,  134- 
135;  prepares  statement  for  Baron 
Van  der  Capellan,  256,  statement 
of  Peters  Case,  131;  presents 
accounts  to  General  Assembly,  319; 
memorial  to  Congress,  233-234; 
price  set  on  head,  323;  proclama 
tion  of,  186-191,  194;  promotes 
library  in  Lebanon,  34;  quoted, 
114-115,  117,  278,  284;  receives 
news  of  Lexington  fight,  142,  news 
of  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  283; 
recommends  Bushnell  to  Washing 
ton,  243;  records  of,  339;  refuses 
to  grant  Writs  of  Assistance,  82-85; 
regiment  of,  40;  relations  with 
General  Schuyler,  198-204,  205, 
with  General  Washington,  162,  165; 
322;  religious  spirit,  14;  reply  to 
General  Committee  of  New  York, 
167;  reports  from  son  Jonathan, 
283;  requests  Continental  troops 
for  Connecticut,  211;  retires  from 
public  life,  316,  317;  retrospect  on 
personal  sacrifices  during  Revolu 
tion,  323;  reviews  Susquehanna 
Case,  295;  revision  of  laws,  44; 
salary  unpaid,  318-319;  Scotch 
characteristics,  4;  second  firm, 
64-65,  70;  sends  copy  of  ratified 


360 


INDEX 


Trumbull,  Jonathan,  Gov.  (continued) 
treaty  to  France,  23 1 ;  sends  troops 
to  New  London  and  Groton,  283 
sensitiveness,  162;  services  of 
family  in  Revolution,  170-178; 
settlement  of  son's  estate,  233-234; 
solicitous  about  Articles  of  Con 
federation,  244;  story  against,  290- 
291;  .strengthens  defences  of  New 
London,  248,  251;  subsistence 
during  Revolution,  319;  supreme 
period  of  career,  133-134;  threats 
of  personal  violence  against,  278; 
title  of  "Brother  Jonathan,"  326- 
332;  treatment  of  private  com 
plaints,  122-123;  tribute  from 
General  Assembly,  318;  troop 
contracts,  66;  unsuccessful  in  pro 
curing  foreign  loan,  275;  urges 
enlistments,  212,  stable  currency, 
260;  views  on  officers'  half  pay, 
300,  on  relations  with  England, 
107-115,  117,  118,  119;  visit  from 
a  stranger,  324;  Washington's 
testimonial  to,  337-338. 

Trumbull,  Jonathan  (son  of  Governor 
Trumbull),  29;  administration  ot 
brother's  estate,  233-234,  244;  aide 
to  Washington,  172;  at  Harvard, 
61;  birth,  37;  charter  member  of 
the  Cincinnati,  303;  Comptroller 
of  Treasury,  172,  244;  Deputy 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  172; 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  172; 
letters  to  father,  216-217,  283-284; 
married  Eunice  Backus,  30,  60; 
Paymaster  in  Northern  Department 
of  Continental  Army,  176,  216,  219; 
relations  with  General  Schuyler, 
203,  205;  representative  and  sena 
tor  from  Connecticut,  172;  secre 
tary  to  General  Washington,  283. 

Trumbull,  Joseph  (brother  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull),  birth,  8;  death, 


Trumbull,  Joseph  (father  of  Gover 
nor  Trumbull),  5;  birth  and  death 
of  son  Joseph,  8;  buys  homestead, 
8;  death,  59;  marries  Hannah 
Higley,  5;  quartermaster  of  Wind- 
ham  Troop,  22;  removal  to  Leb 
anon,  7,  to  Simsbury,  5. 

Trumbull,  Joseph  (son  of  Governor 
Trumbull),  29,  60,  106;  appointed 
commissary  general,  152,  171;  Con 
gress  sustains  action  of,  204;  cor 
respondence  with  General  Gates, 
204,  with  General  Schuyler,  203- 
204;  death,  172,  233,  235,  237; 
delegate  to  First  Continental  Con 
gress,  132;  difficulties  as  commis 
sary,  171-172;  engages  to  build 
sloop,  68,  69-70;  enters  father's 
firm,  65;  first  visit  to  London,  73; 
in  London,  65,  66-69,  72>  inscrip 
tion  on  tombstone,  172;  letter  to 
father,  69  note;  letters  quoted, 
67-68,  74,  75;  marries  Amelia 
Dyer,  29,  233;  member  of  "Com 
mittee  of  Correspondence,"  118; 
resigns  from  commissary,  227; 
secretary  at  Norwich,  121;  settle 
ment  of  estate,  233-234;  services 
commended  by  Congress,  234; 
urges  purchase  of  ammunition, 

134- 

Trumbull,  Mary  (daughter  of  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull),  married  to  William 
Williams,  30,  60,  177. 

Trumbull  family,  clan  of,  2;  coat  of 
arms,  i;  connection  with  Alden 
family,  5;  founder  of,  i;  in  America 
4-8,  29-30,  60;  services  in  Revo 
lution,  170-178;  tomb  in  Lebanon, 

338-339- 

Trumbull  name,  derivation  of,  1-2,  3. 

"Trumbull  Papers,"  89,  126. 

Tryon,  Governor  William,  Tory,  118- 
119;  correspondence  with  Governor 
Trumbull,  227-230,  248;  force  of, 


INDEX 


361 


Tryon,  Governor  William  (continued) 
249;  invasion  of  Connecticut,  210, 
21 1 ;  raid  on  Connecticut  towns, 

249-250,  252. 

UNDERBILL,     "LORD"     NATHANIEL, 

166. 
University  of  Edinburgh,  326. 

VALLEY  FORGE,  army  at,   225,  226; 

situation  at,  225,  227;  sufferings  at, 

299. 
"Voyages    dans    1'Amerique    septen- 

trionale,"  257. 

WADSWORTH,  JEREMIAH  (President  of 
Harvard),  12;  appointed  commis 
sary,  226,  227;  letter  to  Governor 
Trumbull,  247. 

Wales,  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  156. 

Wanton,  Governor  Joseph  (Tory), 
118. 

Waterbury,  Colonel,  180. 

Ward,  General  Andrew,  180;  at  New 
Haven,  250 

Ward,  General  Artemas,  Commander 
in  chief,  158-159. 

War  Office  in  Lebanon,  156,  157. 

War  of  Revolution,  36;  darkest  days 
of,  194,  266;  lack  of  food  in,  247; 
needs  of  army  in,  184,  259;  number 
of  forces  in  New  York  in,  195-196; 
scarcity  of  powder  in,  182-183; 
threatened,  112,  116;  twofold  strife 
in,  118. 

Warwick  patent  lost,  95,  101. 

Washington,  George,  address  to  gov 
ernors,  301,  312;  asks  for  men 
and  provisions,  180,  265,  273;  at 
Weathersfield  conference,  277;  com 
ments  on  Governor  Trumbull's 
farewell  address,  315-316;  corre 
spondence  with  Governor  Trum 
bull,  159,  160-161,  162-165,  168- 
169,  181,  182-183,  193,  195,  196, 


207-208,      209-210,      212,      218-219, 

224,  225,  232,  233,  236,  239,  259, 
260-261,  264,  267,  276-277,  278, 

285-286,  301-302,  320-322;  goes 
to  New  York,  183;  in  southern 
campaign,  212;  intrigue  against, 
213-219;  issues  circular  letter,  277; 
meets  Governor  Trumbull,  183- 
184;  member  of  the  Cincinnati, 
303;  orders  reinforcements  to  Gen 
eral  Wolcott,  251;  infuses  troops 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  211;  re 
treat  through  New  Jersey,  207; 
urges  reinforcements  for  army, 
209-210. 

Weathersfield  conference  held,  277- 
278. 

Welles,  Reverend  Samuel,  tutor  to 
Governor  Trumbull,  10;  anecdote 
of,  lo-n. 

West,  Benjamin  (painter),  175,  274. 

West,  Ebenezer,  defeats  Governor 
Trumbull,  24-25. 

Western  Reserve,  295. 

Westmoreland  County,  235;  forming 
of,  103,  119. 

Wheelock,  Eleazer,  founder  of  Dart 
mouth,  35,  62. 

Whiting,  row-galley,  192. 

Whitnell,  Captain,  57. 

Willard,  Colonel  Abijah,  treatment 
of,  123. 

Williams,  Elisha,  48. 

Williams,  William  (son-in-law  of 
Governor  Trumbull),  66,  156,  157; 
character  of,  177;  letter  to  Gov 
ernor  Trumbull,  177,  217;  marries 
Mary  Trumbull,  30,  60,  177; 
married  life,  178. 

Williams,  Reverend  Solomon,  tutor 
to  Governor  Trumbull,  19,  24; 
controversies  with  Doctor  Coggs- 
well  and  Doctor  Edwards,  Sr.,  19. 

Williams,  Trumble  and  Pitkin  (firm 
name),  64,  66. 


362 


INDEX 


"Windham  mobs,"  126-129. 
Windham,     attitude     towards     Port 

Bill,  121. 
Windsor,  6,  7. 

Winthrop,  John,  journal  of,  98. 
Wiswall,  Hannah,  26. 
Wiswall,  Reverend  Ichabod,  26. 
Wolcott,   Erastus,    143;     ambassador 

to  General  Gage,  147. 
Wolcott,    General   Oliver,    252,    293; 

at  Norwalk,  251. 
Wolcott  papers,  253  note. 
Wolcott,  General  Roger,  44,  49,  51,  58. 
Wolcott,  Roger,  Jr.,  56,  57. 
Woodstock,  Massachusetts,  50,  51. 


Wooster,     General,     degraded,     159; 

death  of,  210. 
Writs  of  Assistance,  109,  113;  granted, 

41,  73,  82;   refused,  82-85. 
Wyoming   Massacres,    100,    235-236, 

237- 
Wyoming  Valley,  99,  100,   102,  235, 

236,  295,  296. 
Wyllys,  Colonel  George,  101. 

YALE  COLLEGE,  50,  325;  early  closing 
at,  248;  students  defend  New 
Haven,  250. 

Yorktown,  campaign  of,  243,  279, 
280,  283,  285. 


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